By now, most people are used to Elon Musk making big promises. Brain chips, Mars cities, self-driving cars, the reinvention of public transit, and now, a flying Tesla.
The billionaire CEO says a prototype could be unveiled within months, and he’s already hyping the technology as unforgettable.
But given Musk’s long track record of exaggerations, backpedaling, and outright falsehoods, the real question isn’t whether Tesla can make a flying car.
It’s whether anyone outside his fanbase, including Joe Rogan, actually believes him anymore.
“Crazy, Crazy Technology”
On a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Musk teased that a Tesla flying car is almost ready.
“We’re getting close to demonstrating the prototype,” he said.
“And I think this will be… one thing I can guarantee is that this product demo will be unforgettable.”
When Rogan asked for specifics, Musk didn’t offer much. Just more hype: “We need to make sure that it works. Like, this is some crazy, crazy technology we got in this car. Crazy technology. Crazy crazy.”
Pressed on whether the vehicle would have something like retractable wings, Musk was vague.
“It has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever,” he said.
The demo is supposedly coming in a “couple months.”
A Familiar Pattern
If this sounds like Musk’s typical overpromising, that’s because it is. The Tesla CEO has a long history of hyping products that either fail to materialize or arrive years late, in watered-down form.
His fans say he’s just an ambitious visionary. Critics say it’s smoke and mirrors.
Take the Tesla Roadster, originally announced in 2017. Musk promised it would hit 60 mph in under two seconds and include a rocket thruster option. As of late 2025, the car still hasn’t been launched.
Or look at his repeated claims about fully self-driving cars. In 2015, he said they were just around the corner.
By 2021, he was still insisting Tesla would achieve full autonomy by the end of the year. That obviously didn’t happen.
Worse, the public got misled in the process. Rolling Stone reported, “Despite the reported deaths and clear evidence that the only video of a driverless Tesla was heavily staged, even Musk admits that his hype around self-driving technology has been the central factor in the recent growth of his wealth to titanic proportions.”
He’s made similarly shaky promises about colonizing Mars. In 2011, Musk said SpaceX could land a person on Mars within a decade. In 2017, he shifted the goal to 2024. In 2020, it became 2026.
His latest timeline says 2029. As Rolling Stone noted, NASA scientists have repeatedly said the basic technology doesn’t exist yet.
And don’t forget the Hyperloop. Musk pitched a 700-mph pneumatic tube system in 2013, claiming it would zip passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes.
Most of those were abandoned quietly, and the only functioning system today is a 2.2-mile loop in Las Vegas where Teslas drive slowly in tunnels.
Lies With Consequences
Musk’s exaggerations aren’t just annoying. They can be damaging.
His infamous 2018 tweet, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured,” caused Tesla’s stock to spike—before crashing once it was clear no such funding existed. Musk was fined $20 million by the SEC and stepped down as Tesla chairman.
Cities like Chicago even explored proposals based on his Hyperloop pitch. But the system was never built. A few short tunnels exist, including a much-hyped one in Las Vegas where Teslas drive slowly through narrow tubes, but they haven’t solved anything.
Steven Higashide, a transportation expert who followed Musk’s proposal in Chicago, wrote that Musk tried to sell the city on technology that “didn’t exist” and had “nothing to do” with public benefit.
The so-called innovation was simply “a boutique mobility project and a distraction.”
“Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people?” Musk once asked dismissively at a Tesla event, referring to mass transit.
Misleading the Public
Musk’s misleading statements have escalated since becoming (and departing as) head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Trump administration.
In that role, Musk has spread false claims about Social Security, claiming it might be “the biggest fraud in history,” according to CEPR.
He even stated that “40 percent of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent”, a stat that was flat-out wrong.
The actual data says 40 percent of direct deposit fraud originates via phone calls, not that 40 percent of callers are committing fraud.
The result? DOGE rolled out an anti-fraud system that flagged almost nothing and caused real harm.
According to an internal SSA memo, it slowed claims processing by 20 percent and degraded public service. Phone support collapsed. The website crashed. Staffing was gutted.
As Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) put it, “Every one of DOGE’s so-called ‘mistakes’ is a backdoor cut to people’s benefits… There’s nothing efficient about making it harder for people to access the checks they’ve earned and are owed.”
A Culture of Hype and Backpedaling
Even Musk’s foray into social media has been riddled with contradictions and false claims.
After buying Twitter and rebranding it as X, he vowed to create a content moderation council before reinstating banned accounts. That never happened.
He said policy changes would be put to user votes. Then he made major decisions unilaterally.
He promised to champion free speech, but has throttled competing platforms, suspended journalists, and removed blocking features.
He also claimed he would eliminate child exploitation content, then quietly reinstated an account that had previously posted some of it.
His bizarre claim that he would make “cisgender” a bannable slur on the platform didn’t materialize either.
He also falsely claimed that he had eradicated “90 percent of scams” on the platform using paid verification.
There’s no public evidence that figure is true. Musk even suggested holding a cage match with Mark Zuckerberg and claimed Italy had offered to host it near ancient ruins. The Italian government denied it. None of it happened.
So Why Does Rogan Still Believe Him?
Despite all this, Joe Rogan continues to entertain Musk’s ideas with minimal pushback.
Their interviews, often friendly and uncritical, serve as a platform for Musk to pitch his newest vision, no matter how unrealistic.
Rogan doesn’t press for evidence. He rarely challenges Musk’s contradictions. Whether it’s the Cybertruck, colonizing Mars, or now the flying Tesla, Musk receives softballs.
And in the current media environment, that may be enough. A segment on Rogan’s podcast reaches millions. It generates headlines. It keeps the myth alive.
But it also fuels a cycle in which Musk’s untested claims are accepted at face value, helping him sidestep accountability.
In some cases, as with DOGE’s Social Security fiasco, the results have real consequences for everyday Americans.
A Demo to Distract?
Musk has good reason to shift attention. Tesla’s recent earnings were mixed. The company posted record revenue in Q3 2025, as buyers rushed to secure expiring EV tax credits.
But profits missed expectations, weighed down by tariffs, R&D spending, and declining regulatory credit income.
With EV demand softening and competitors gaining ground, a flashy new product demo, even if it’s mostly theater, could help keep investor and public interest afloat.
But even here, skepticism is warranted. Musk already promised the Roadster would hover. That hasn’t happened.
He once teased a manned Mars mission by 2024. We’re now hoping for 2029 at best (lol).
Flying Cars and Grounded Expectations
The idea of a flying car isn’t new. Other companies, like Alef Aeronautics, have already shown early prototypes.
But Musk’s claim that Tesla will soon unveil one, without offering any evidence or timeline for production, fits a familiar pattern: make a bold announcement, soak up attention, delay the product, and quietly move on.
And if the demo doesn’t go well? As Musk told Rogan:
“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable.”
That much is probably true. But for critics, it won’t be unforgettable because it signals the future. It’ll be another example of how far Musk can go on hype alone.
After so many years of unkept promises and outright fabrications, Musk still gets headlines and podcast invites.
But it’s worth asking why the media, and the public, keep giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Especially when the consequences of his lies are no longer theoretical. They’re being felt by retirees, transit riders, scientists, and public servants.
So sure, maybe Tesla will roll out a flying car soon. Just don’t forget to ask what it actually does, and who it really serves.
IMAGE CREDIT: “Elon Musk” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.