Sales of electric vehicles are booming in much of the world as people look for ways to avoid gyrating fuel prices at the mercy of geopolitics.

But automakers are aiming a new fleet of electric cars at people who are not worried about prices at the pump and normally have garages full of vehicles with brawny, gas-guzzling engines.

At an event in Texas on Thursday, Tesla unveiled the Roadster, an incarnation of the company’s first car, but this time equipped with thrusters that allow it to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than a second and leave the ground for short distances.

“I'm not sure it will be legal in all jurisdictions,” Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, joked after the car used the thrusters to hop over a row of other Tesla vehicles, executing a roll as it did so.