Elon Musk, the Chief Executive of electric car maker Tesla, unveiled a surprise new vehicle on Thursday night - a roadster that he said would be the "fastest production car ever" made.

Capable of going from 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, the Tesla Roadster would be the first such car ever to break the two second mark, the entrepreneur said at a launch near Los Angeles.

He also said it would climb from 0 to 100 mph in 4.2 seconds and clear a quarter mile in 8.9 seconds. "This will the first time that any production car has broken 9 seconds in the quarter mile," he said

With a 200 kilowatt hour battery pack, the Tesla Roadster will have a range of 620 miles on a single charge - another new record.

"The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars," he said.

“Driving a gasoline sports car is going to feel like a steam engine with a side of quiche.”