What Tesla’s Flying Roadster Really Means for the Global Auto Race

Elon Musk’s latest vision for the company’s sports car has more to do with China than cold-gas rocket thrustersThe new Tesla Roadster was pure spectacle. There was the design that gave the sports car an appearance of a jet fighter crossed with a Lamborghini. A suction system that enabled it to hang upside down 69 feet above the ground. And, the defining feature, cold-gas rocket thrusters that jumped the car over a line of vehicles while doing a midair barrel roll.With a flying sports car, Elon Musk displayed again that he’s America’s biggest dreamer. So when the Tesla CEO puts...