Will Tesla's Roadster be the world's fastest car? Elon Musk promises unbelievable acceleration - CarsGuide

Tesla boss Elon Musk has made one of his patented bold claims about the incoming Roadster, promising his electric sports car will be able to clip 60mph (96.5km/h) in just 2.1 seconds.

That's very, very fast. For reference, the Porsche 918 Spyder claims a 2.2 second sprint, while the Ferrari LaFerrari has been clocked at 2.4 seconds.

It means the Tesla Roadster will have them both beat. And what's more, Musk is promising that the eyebrow-peeling speed will be on offer from even the base-model cars.

The claim, made on Twitter, actually attracted some criticism, with other users quick to point out that Musk had previously promised it would be even faster.

When announcing the car back in 2017, Musk said it would be capable of a sprint to 60mph in 1.9secs. It would push on, he said, to 161km/h in just 4.2 seconds, on its way to a seemingly impossible top speed of 402km/h.

But the Tesla boss had an answer for the revised figures, saying the new time was before adding Space X-inspired (and still rather mysterious) "rocket thruster" option.

"(The) 2.1 sec 0-60 mph is base model before adding rocket thruster option," Musk wrote on Twitter.

The Roadster, which is expected to go on sale in 2020, is tipped to start from around US$200,000. Musk has previously taken to Twitter with some other bold claims about his second-generation Tesla Roadster, promising the 2020 EV will deliver "above 1000kms" in range.