Tesla took their first baby steps into the automotive industry with the introduction of the Roadster in 2008. The car, a collaboration between the American manufacturer and their partners Lotus across the Pond, didn't seem to be much more than a failed experiment. It was heavy. Battery technology was far from what it is today, and its range was noncompetitive compared to other cheaper, lighter two-seater weekend cars on the market.

Tesla used to give them out for free, for Pete's sake; 80 of them. If your specific referral code was used in 50 purchases of any models in Tesla's lineup, you got one of those 80. With an MSRP value of nearly $100,000, it was evident Tesla was struggling to sell the Roadster and was doing everything they could to make room for the influx of orders for the wildly popular Model S.

What Is The 2008 Tesla Roadster Worth?

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The brand we've come to love (or hate) today was introduced to the world in the form of this little two-seater sports car. It was hard for many to justify the $100,000 price tag, especially from such an unproven name. On top of that, it just didn't have the performance to match.

It was a little weekend canyon-carver designed to showcase the technology under development by Tesla, and with a quoted four second 0-60, it raised more than a few eyebrows. It was unheard of: electricity was for powering golf carts and those dreary little RAV4 EVs, not fun open-top sports cars!

105 MPGe and 250 relative horsepower was more than enough to shake a stick at, but even still, Tesla struggled to sell all 2,500 examples produced from 2008-2012. So much so they became part of Tesla's aforementioned referral program and many were given to qualifying candidates. For free.

With ever rising gas prices, the Roadster and other aboriginal electric vehicles have grown in popularity among collectors. While the technology and performance may be obsolete nowadays, the Roadster carries a certain charm as the most successful electric sports car to date.

Related: This Is What Made The Original Tesla Roadster So Special

Buy, Buy, Buy Or Sell, Sell, Sell?

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The first 100 Roadsters produced were a part of the "Signature One Hundred", which still sold for the original MSRP of around $100,000 but have increased in value far faster than the last 2,400: one of these special edition cars successfully sold to Bring A Trailer last year for $182,000 for a $50,000 appreciation adjusted for inflation.

This example, the 38th ever made, came with all the gimmicky goodies one could expect from Tesla including (but not limited to) paint and leather samples, booklets and other literature, and a personalized scale model. The digital odometer reads just under 24 thousand miles.

Scrolling through the post-sale comments, that appears to be a fair price for both parties. Could we have expected the same result even two years ago? Highly unlikely.

A 2008 Roadster that one may consider a "high mileage" (55k) example sold earlier this year for $90,000. While not one of the Signature One Hundred Editions, the sale prices for all these cars are rapidly approaching what they sold for new.

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That said, the used car market is far from normal right now. Factors such as the pandemic, microchip shortages, and even extra free time due to unemployment are all inflating prices far past what they would be organically, and we should expect an adjustment once we return to a pre-Covid climate.

Will the Tesla Roadster be immune to such a market correction, or do these prices accurately represent their demand? It's hard to give a definitive answer, but we've seen electric cars in the past hold their value quite well compared to their ICE cousins. It wouldn't be a wild projection to assume the prices of these cars to skyrocket at an even faster rate, considering the growing appeal for this strange Tesla novelty.

Related: Bid On This First-Gen Tesla Roadster

With the planned release of the second gen Tesla Roadster, one could expect a jump in the price of the original not unlike what happened in the case of the original BMW 8 series.

Many are holding back from listing their cars while others are convinced now is the time to sell. Electric cars such as the Roadster are among the most steady in such a turbulent market, and taking the rise in global fuel prices into consideration one can't help but anticipate these low-mileage examples of these cars fetching $200,000 - $300,000 at auctions in the very near future.

Source: Bring a Trailer, Forbes