The electric car-maker has unveiled its very secret ultra-quick Roadster with a 0-60mph time of just 1.9 seconds

Elon Musk managed to surprise the world's motoring press with the unveiling of this, the all-new Tesla Roadster. A model which somehow the company has managed to keep under wraps until yesterday - and which comes with some very bold claims.

According to the tech entrepreneur, this all-new model is capable of the 0-60mph dash in just 1.9 seconds, which would make it the first production car of its type to break the mythical two-second barrier.

The speed gathering intensity continues with 100mph being reached from a standing start in a staggeringly quick 4.2 seconds. Musk has also claimed another first with the Roadster’s quarter-mile time, confirming it’s capable of covering the distance in just 8.8 seconds - the first time any production car has broken the 9 second barrier.

While Musk has remained coy about the top speed, he did confirm that the Roadster will hit speeds of “250mph plus.” That is a never-before-seen figure from a car powered by electric motors. We can only assume that Tesla has some sort of clever method of deploying the trio of electric motors to achieve this speed.

All of this fury comes from a trio of electric motors fed by a 200 kWh battery pack which offers 620 miles of highway driving range. For comparison purposes, this is twice the capacity of the Model S P100D.

One question that Musk failed to answer was the power number that the Roadster produces. He did however confirm that it does produce some 10,000Nm of torque at the wheels which is a hypercar beating number if ever there was one.

On the inside of this speed-fest, buyers will find two-plus-two seating, a removable roof panel that can be stored in the boot - and we assume a speedo that goes all the way up to 250mph.

When asked as to why Tesla has chosen to resurrect the Roadster as a model, Musk said: "The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars,” continued Musk. “Driving a gasoline sports car is going to feel like a steam engine with a side of quiche.”

The Tesla Roadster is due to arrive in 2020, priced from $200,000 (£151,000) making it quite possibly the performance bargain of the next century.

So, would you have the Roadster or the Chiron? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.