Musk: The first generation of Tesla is "completely unsafe", but its upgraded version is coming in 2019

Tesla's Model S electric car has won praise from reviewers, and pre-orders for the Model 3 are booming. However, the company's first foray into the electric car market, the Roadster, has had some problems, and that's according to none other than Elon Musk.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted that the first-generation Roadster was "completely unsafe."

At Tesla's annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Musk recalled the difficult road Tesla has taken to developing electric vehicles. The Roadster went on sale in 2008 and uses a chassis produced by sports car maker Lotus.

Tesla's first product was a convertible sports car. In 2008, Tesla developed the Tesla Roadster two-seat electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise two-door sports car, with a theoretical range of 320km. From its launch in 2008 to its discontinuation in 2012, a total of about 2,250 units were sold. The price at the time was $109,000. The Tesla Roadster is also the world's first mass-produced electric sports car.

The first generation of Tesla Roadster was launched overseas in 2008 and discontinued in 2012. During its four-year life cycle, Tesla Roadster sold about 2,450 units worldwide. As a high-performance electric sports car, Tesla Roadster has a maximum output power of 251-270 horsepower, a peak torque of 270-400 Nm, an acceleration time of 0-100 km/h of 3.7-3.9 seconds, and a maximum cruising range of about 393 kilometers (configuration, pictures, inquiries).

"Despite passing all regulatory requirements, this car is completely unsafe," Musk said, noting that it frequently broke down, tended to get stuck in second gear, and was largely "built by hand."

He admitted that early Tesla Roadster cars had serious problems. At the end of the shareholders' meeting, an early Roadster owner asked Musk a question. When Musk answered, he first apologized to the customer because he had probably experienced technical problems with the Roadster.

Musk told a story about how he gave an early Roadster test drive to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the car couldn't go more than 10 miles per hour. "I said, I swear to you, this car can go much faster than it is now." Musk said that the two Google founders "were so kind that they paid for the company after the worst product demonstration in history."

However, the car that Musk complained about was later upgraded. According to Musk, Tesla "completely redesigned" the car in one year. This led to a new generation of Roadster. The new car has improved performance and finally brought profits.

Recently, there is news that the Roadster will usher in a new round of upgrades. Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen, director of Tesla Motors in Northern Europe, confirmed that Tesla will launch the next generation Tesla Roadster convertible sports car in 2019.

Regarding Tesla's new sports car, Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen said it will be bigger and faster. Of course, it will no longer be a modification of other people's cars like the first generation, but will be designed and manufactured based on Tesla Model 3, and its power performance will also be improved.

At the shareholders' meeting, Musk was honest enough to make fun of himself. So why did he make fun of himself? Looking at this cool convertible Roadster that will be launched in 2019, I think he might be trying to criticize before praising.

However, no matter whether he makes fun of himself or others, no one can stop Iron Man Musk from moving forward.