The definition of an American muscle car changes depending on who you ask. But most people will agree that to be considered American muscle, at the very least a car must look good, go fast, and have lots of torque. But that describes a lot of cars, doesn’t it? Even so, with electric vehicles a small-but-growing sliver of car sales, one must ask…can there ever be an electric muscle car?

Perhaps. In an interview with the UK’s AutoCar magazine, Tesla Motors executive George Blankenship said that the next Tesla Roadster will “push the envelope” on performance. Will we one day mention this electric supercar in the same breath as the Mustang, Charger, or Chevelle?

On one hand, the original Tesla Roadster had a 0-60 mph time of about 3.7 seconds, which is absolutely on par with muscle car giants like the Shelby GT500, SRT Viper, and Corvette ZR1. The top speed should be around 150 mph if Tesla really plans to “push the envelope” as it were. That said, the Tesla Model S, an all-electric sedan, can certainly claim to be Made in America, coming out of the former Toyota/GM NUMMI plant in Fremont, California.

But the next Tesla Roadster will need more than speed to be a muscle car. It will have to drop the frilly British-built Lotus body for something more masculine.

Even then, with a muscle-car inspired look and a lower price, the Tesla will never have the thing that makes American muscle cars so addictive; that guttural V8 roar.

So, as cool as the next Tesla Roadster sounds, we’re not convinced it qualifies as American muscle. At least not yet. What are your thoughts on this?