Wasn’t aware of that detail thanks, it’s such a bizarre idea.
I disagree that it couldn’t come out of thinking of how to justify merging spacex and Tesla which he’s wanted to do for a long time.
This isn’t a cool car, it’s a gimmick. It will never be road-worthy, would lose money, and I doubt they’ll ever even sell it to customers.
As to why he’s going this dog and pony show now, we can only speculate, but I can’t think of any reasons that are good for Tesla (vs Musk personally) can you?
I see little need to speculate here.
The obvious explanation would be that this design for the roadster took 8 years to come to fruition for a demo-able prototype.
I also very much doubt the 2028 timeline for delivery, and what the purpose of the Rocket edition is. Perhaps it's just a prestige project.
The non-flying version at least seems usable on a racing track.