A 2008 Tesla Roadster fetched more than $250,000 in the United States. That’s a new record. The increasing value of the Roadster is mainly because the model is becoming increasingly rare. Today there are an estimated 2,000 Roadsters left.
The Roadster that sold for the record amount was a very early example. The selling party, Gruber Motor Company, which specializes in Tesla Roadsters, reports to the website Electrek that it concerns chassis number 13. That car only had 840 miles (1,344 kilometers) on the clock. Because of that combination, Gruber put the aforementioned price tag on the car. However, that amount was soon surpassed. Several interested parties made an offer for the car, which eventually changed hands for ‘more than $250,000’. The exact amount has not been disclosed, but in any case, the transaction marks a new record in the Tesla Roadsters market.
Tesla produced the Roadster from 2008 to 2012. During that time, 2,400 units rolled off the production line. There are reportedly about 2,000 of these left today. Gruber himself contributed to the reduced number, because fires broke out at the company in 2017 and 2021. In total, at least 36 Roadsters were lost as a result. Tesla also bought back a number of Roadsters from customers to get parts with which other cars could be maintained.
In the Netherlands, Tesla delivered the Roadster from 2010 to 2012. The model was available in two variants: as Roadster and Roadster Sport, which were in the order books for €99,960 and €117,810 respectively. In any case, owners have hardly written off on that new value. Currently, the prices on Gruber’s website fluctuate between €90,000 and €297,000, with some European copies in between. A Roadster is for sale in Switzerland for the equivalent of €248,000. The German car website Mobile.de currently lists four Roadsters for sale, which range in price from €99,000 to €181,500. This at least fulfills our prediction from 12 years ago.
Cheaper alternative
At the time of writing, there are no Tesla Roadsters waiting for a new owner on the AutoWeek used car finder. There is, however, a cheaper alternative that may be interesting: a Lotus Elise converted to an EV, which is located at Van der Kooi Sportscars in Houten. With an asking price of €69,895, it costs considerably less than a Tesla Roadster and is also rarer: only eight copies of the electric Lotus have been built.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl