I’ll be honest with you: I’m exhausted. I got on a plane early this morning, ended up in LA, and then almost immediately went to the Slate launch event. So maybe keep that in mind as I relay my somewhat stream-of-consciousness thoughts and reactions about this truck and what it is and what it means and how it fits into the greater automotive world. Remember, this company spent lots of (presumably) Jeff Bezos’ money (I heard to afford the crash testing he had to hock his saxophone) to put on a big show, and the whole point of that show was to convince me and several hundred of my close auto journalist and social-media influencer friends that what Slate is doing is something remarkable. And, dammit, I think they may have actually convinced me.
Normally, I do so much eye-rolling at these product launches I have to fill eyedroppers full of WD-40. But that’s because most product launches are about crossovers or SUVs or trucks that are described with words like “dynamic” and “premium” and “tech” and are comfortable, expensive family-haulers that somehow have more horsepower than a glue factory and can go from a Target parking spot to 60 in under five seconds. They’re cars with massive acres of touchscreens, through which you have to do absolutely everything. Even opening the glove box or adjusting the airflow.
They’re expensive and sophisticated machines and I am absolutely sick of them, all of them, all of their pompous modernity and refinement and seriousness and complexity. They’re exhausting.
But the Slate isn’t like that. And, even better, that seems to be the whole point of these vehicles, right from the get-go. The event started with the CEO of Slate (which, we were assured, was never an anagram of Tesla), Chris Barman, reminding everyone how much the average car payment is in America ($742/month), and then she noted that based on income, that average really should be more like $400. But cars are expensive right now. And no one seems to care; they just keep adding more tech and more features and the prices keep going up and up, but is the experience of having a car really getting better?
Slate doesn’t seem to think so, and they seem to have created a car – or, I guess, truck – that honestly does seem to be the opposite of what everyone else is doing. They genuinely appear to have made something deliberately simple and stripped down, everything unnecessary removed, but also with plenty of provisions to add features in a modular way, at your leisure, and that includes adding body components to transfer the single-cab pickup into an open jeep-like car or two variants of SUVs, called, in a very Volkswagen Type 3 way, the Squareback and Fastback.
We’ve gone into the details about the Slate in other posts, so I won’t re-hash all that, but I will give you some of my visceral gut impressions I had while encountering these (prototype still, not even quite pre-production) trucks in person:
The Size
The size is just perfect, I think. It feels roughly old Ford Ranger-sized. These could make fantastic replacements for all the ancient Toyota and Nissan small pickups that are still being used as gardener’s trucks in the LA neighborhoods like the Hollywood Hills or Silverlake, where a big F-150 is just too cumbersome to wind those roads.
The Exposed Fasteners
Hell yes. I’ve been craving a modern car not ashamed of the fact that it’s held together with actual fasteners instead of magic and adhesives and silly little modesty plugs. Nearly every panel had visible, accessible fasteners, which should mean that repair and replacement of parts will be vastly easier than on most cars. Which means repairing accident damage should be cheaper, too, which is extremely important.
Those Crank Windows
I suppose if the Slate has a symbol, it’s this. Just having a manual window in a car now is like an act of defiance, and I’m here for it. This crank spits in the face of the very concept of “premium,” which has been destroying the soul of the automobile for decades. Not everything needs to be powered. It’s not hard to roll down a window; in fact, I think it’s good for one’s character, and it works if the car is on or off, has no wiring or motors, and if someone gets a finger chopped off in one, it was intentional.
The Absence Of A Touchscreen
Outside of a rash in my groin, I can’t remember the last time I was so excited by the absence of something. There’s no big center-stack infotainment screen here, just a mount for your phone with USB power, because your phone has all the crap you want on a center-stack screen already: your music, your maps, your messages, your whatever.
All of the time and engineering that goes into carmaker-designed operating systems for these touchscreens must represent one of the greatest ratios of effort to not-give-a-shittery in the history of mankind. I aggressively and deliriously do not care about any carmaker’s UX for these screens, because they all sort of suck and there’s almost nothing that they do that I wouldn’t just rather do on my phone.
And, if there’s no screen, then there’s no way to put HVAC controls or glove box releases or other bullshit in some menu on the screen. And that’s a good thing.
The backup camera shows its feed on the small instrument cluster LCD screen, and that’s just fine.
Both the center and passenger side dash panels open up for storage or to house speakers. It’s great.
The Taillights And Other Lighting
They’re pretty good! The side markers seem to be pleasingly from some catalog, and I kind of wish the taillights were just some parts-bin something, but as they are, they’re not bad, being roughly shaped like old Ford Econoline/Bronco taillights. Some of them appeared to have a little fresnel lens inside them, like a miniature lighthouse:
Up front, the round lights give a nice, friendly look to the car’s face, though I think they could have gone even more basic and used sealed beams, but oh well.
Also cool is the fact that you can change the whole look of the indicator lights by just swapping that gridded cover with one with other designs. Just four screws! That center grille panel can be changed out as well, along with a bunch of other parts:
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The Door Handles
These things are dead ringers for old AMC handles, as used on the Pacer, Hornet, Gremlin, and so on.
What About People Who Live In Apartments?
This is going to be one of the cheapest cars on the market –with the EV incentives– certainly the cheapest electric car. This means this should be popular among people without so much money to throw around, which often means people who don’t yet own their own homes. Many of these people may live in apartments. Where are they supposed to charge these? Home charging is a huge benefit for EVs, and without it, the EV use case gets more tenuous. This needs some sort of solution.
Can This Become A Classless Vehicle?
Let me start by saying “classless” is good here. You know how certain iconic people’s cars managed to take on a certain kind of classless appeal, where they could be owned by a broke student or a bigshot celebrity? Think Paul Newman and his VW Beetle or Peter Sellers and his Mini. Well, I think the Slate has a chance to become something like that, if they play their cards right.
Is a Rivian cooler than a Slate? An F-150 Lightning? A Cybertruck? I don’t really think so. I have a feeling these minimalist machines may have their own humble cachet.
The Cargo Area And Usefulness
In pickup mode, these have a five-foot bed, enough for big sheets of plywood:
Even with the rear seat in place, there’s still a good amount of cargo area:
Plus, it has what seems to be a pretty usable frunk, which is great, because you often want some kind of secure, enclosed storage.
Okay, I Gotta Get Some Sleep
There will be much more to say about the Slate, I’m sure. It may not be as cheap as I’d like, and I’m not totally convinced a battery-electric vehicle only was the way to go here, but I’m definitely excited by the underlying ideas of this truck, and I think the industry has needed something like this for a long, long time.
It’s the coolest thing since the 2CV. Period.
Cue all the comments of “it’s too cheap!” After years of people on here complaining that cars are too expensive to buy, own, and maintain. A company out there listened and gave you the barebones transportation you all asked for and your response is “no! Not like that!”
They will sell dozens of these. There’s no actual mass market appeal for these.
Time will tell.
Disagree. Fleet buyers will be very interested.
I’m more in the, ” the bed’s not long enough” camp myself.
As long as it has a 2″ receiver that’s solved with a bed extender. Full panels supported and secured without incident.
Granted, I have an 8′ bed and still use one for longer loads, but those are outliers.
I’d say it is too expensive for the range and spec.
But… what if I want… it… to be… a car?
Pfft. We’re in ‘Murica. You’ll drive a truck/SUV and like it!
The answer to your question is in this song…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef9QnZVpVd8
Have you tried making a secret silicon valley startup then soliciting one of the wealthiest individuals in history?
Buy the fastback version, replace wheels tires with street tires/wheels and a cheap cup kit/coilover suspension to lower it. I can already see some stancebro version in my head
I like it. Or at least the idea of it. It’s cute, fun-looking, and the modular concept is intriguing. But it’s $25,000 or so. The sub-20k price is wholly reliant on tax credits that themselves seem to be mostly reliant on how popular Elon Musk is in the Oval Office at any given moment. And the killer here is that for many, if not most, potential non-fleet buyers looking for a sub-20k vehicle a BEV is a liability.
The only available factory finish is unpainted grey plastic. The windows roll down. If you want tunes you have to buy an upgrade. And the few new vehicles at this price point, as well as a bevy of lightly-used vehicles, are better equipped and have a form factor that works better for the average person.
This is a niche vehicle. Fleet operators will LOVE these. I 100% could see this being the default Home Depot rent-by-the-hour pickup. In fact, the whole pitch seems like trying to sell a fleet vehicle to the general public. Could it be a “classless” vehicle that appeals to rich and poor alike? Absolutely, but I’m sure the options and customizations add up very quickly. I think this is going to be “Cheap OR Cheerful”.
I hope it does well. I really do like it, but I don’t think it’s quite the cheap transportation solution Slate is trying to portray it as.
I love the hell out of this thing. I just really wish I could justify buying one.
Same.
Seems like someone way paying attention to Scion from 20 years ago. Mono spec cars with a huge factory supported “mods” list. I’m very interested, as this fits squarely into my use case for a vehicle. I rarely drive more than 100 miles in a week, and while I typically only buy about a tank of gas a month, I’d love to never buy gas again. Timing seems about right too, as we should have some semblance of clarity by 2026 on what madness our market looks like.
A friend had an original Scion xB and it was a blast to drive. Around town. Dunno about on the freeway. I rented a first gen Kia Soul in Canada, and it was also surprisingly fun and fine on the short bits of freeway I did. Neither was as bare bones as this. I haven’t read yet whether the Slate has A/C and I really do appreciate being able to raise and lower the passenger side window without leaning horizontally to reach the crank.
I’d take a Maverick hybrid over the Slate. But that’s just me. YMMV.
“(I heard to afford the crash testing he had to hock his saxophone)”
If you’re going to take giant steps, and not just follow in Ford and Jeep’s footprints, you have to be prepared to break things and pick up the pieces. Give it to the customer straight, no chaser – size it for the average watermelon man-shaped American.
Unless you don’t get around much anymore, test for ruggedness under the moonglow with a night in Tunisia (I hear it’s a great place to study anthropology and especially ornithology – it’s a veritable birdland). Then again, if we keep going back to the SUV form factor, you might just be committing epistrophy.
Hey, at least we’re getting actual colors. This one is a kind of blue.
I went on the slate site, it looks like you can custom choose colors for the wrap outside of their presets.
I’m thinking the “duckies and bunnies” from Johnny Dangerously.
You Bastige!
Underrated comment
Not a lot of jazzy Autopians, perhaps
I can’t decide on a single color. Do they offer a chameleon finish?
So with those external fasteners…that seems like a bad idea unless you love having panels stolen? What’s to stop theft?
I’d rather have someone use the fasteners than open the fenders with a canopener like thieves did to steal those Porsche headlights.
Jeep owners have somehow managed just fine for decades….
Those darn kids and their wrenches.
I’m more concerned about them rusting. Although that would help with the theft prevention. I think I’d remove each one immediately and apply a liberal amount of anti-seize immediately after purchase.
I feel like you’re over estimating the crappiness of people. Sure theft a possibility but do you really think that there going to be some huge black market ring of tailights for a cheap truck. If you’re really so concerned but a set of those special torx screws with the metal post in the center. It’s specialized enough that a common thief wouldn’t have the tool.
If you’re parking it where people could mess with the panels then you’re also parking it where they can mess with the charging cable.
Dude, they’re some form of plastic. There is basically no scrap value to it. Unless you make a habit of pissing people off I doubt you’ll have any problems, otherwise buy a wheeled APC with runflats and keyed lugnuts.
If these actually became popular you would have a secondary market for good parts – just like any other vehicle.
Is it a big risk – no but it could happen. 30 year ago someone broke my window to steal a $10 factory AM / FM head unit out of my car. Busted up all the trim around it and cost me about $1000 to fix at the time using junkyard parts and doing the work myself.
‘Used plastic body panel for $20K Pickup Thing, I Know What I have, no Lowballers’.
Reminds me of the NYT story back then about someone who put a handwritten sign on the dashboard that said, “No radio.” Someone broke the window anyway and wrote “Get one” on the flip side.
I see your concern but the panels are more secure than a tailgate. They’re not stolen very often.
power windows and a head unit isn’t what makes cars expensive these days. Seems kind of stupid to not have that in this vehicle. You can still make it spartan with a head unit you can just mirror your phone on. I see it can have speakers so it would be nice if it had a hookup for aftermarket head units. Also, I’m curious to see what the crash rating is on this thing. I do like the way it looks though so I hope it’s not a death trap.
For an electric car, I have to think that designing & putting in a crank for the windows would cost more than a stupid little button & wire for it right?!
Why does it being an EV make that cheaper? What’s fundamentally different about an EV car door over an ICE car door?
Its much easier to convert a hand crank window to electric than it is to convert an electric window to a hand crank one.
Also on a personal note the crank windows are a big reason why I like it. Single Cab with crank windows is really all I need, though I wouldn’t mind a 3rd seat and a extra foot of bed length.
Yeah, I’m thinking they cut just a little too much here, just in the name of saying they cut something.
At least give me a double DIN sleeve to customize to my choosing. Screen, no screen…bluetooth…SD cards…CD/DVD player? You name it.
My grandpa’s last car was a barebones Mazda 323 hatchback (1989) because he wanted the closest thing to a modern Beetle available. It had no stereo, but it did have speaker cutouts, wiring, and a DIN sleeve retrofitted as a storage compartment. You could still put a stereo in place.
Agreed 100% on this, a double din opening would go along way here! I think most of Americans will pass after the initial GeeWiz factor wears off.
A double din is exactly what I thought would work really well here. Hope they add that to this.
According to Jason:
I would expect/hope that in place of/addition to a speaker, that the center section will hold a double DIN unit. I can’t image that the makers would be stupid enough to not have such support planned.
Geez – Just tape a Bluetooth speaker to the dash, Dude.
Ummm…WD-40 is a water dispersant, not a lubricant, it’s only going to make your dry eyes worse. To loosen those crusty babies up for proper rolling after a long flight you need PB Blaster.
Ok now that I’m channeled my inner forum guy: I hope you’re right–whether or not these folks actually succeed as a business this truck points to a world in which EVs are more like legos versus the ICE erector sets. It also fills the all-but abandoned (and admittedly small) niche of an around-town two door small work/dirty hobby truck for those who don’t need to tow or intimidate.
The SDS for their multi-use aerosol lists it as a lubricant and it has petroleum based oil in it so YMMV.
If this thing comes to fruition with a sub-20k price tag with a second row of seats… which is a big IF… it could maybe quite possibly be the first and likely only car I buy new.
It looks great. It seems easy and cheap to repair. I can charge it at home. I can fit 2-3 kids in there to ferry them to after school activities. I can throw a tarp and some dirty stuff in the back without worrying about carpet. And best of all – it looks super easy to customize! If this thing catches on, I can’t WAIT to see the mod scene.
Seriously though, price is going to be the main factor here. If it comes in at 20k or less out the door and you can drop 10k in a down payment… you could potentially drive this for less than $200 a month with a 5 year loan. And depreciation on a 20k vehicle is almost not even a concern.
Sign. Me. Up.
It does not come with the second row seats. They cost extra. Doors to access those second row seats are not available at any price.
Yep. I’m working under the hope that base price is slightly under 20k, and adding the seats and hardtop would bring it to around 20k. I would not need any other extras.
And my kids would be ages 10-15 when this launches, so perfectly capable of climbing over a folded down passenger seat to access the rear. That’s not a con to me.
It is only sub-20K -after the $7500 federal EV tax credit – which may or may not exist in 2026 when these are scheduled to start production.
There is also the fact that you only get the full $7500 credit if you have $7500 in tax liability in the year you buy the car. It is not a refundable tax credit. The Biden administration instructed the IRS not to try to claw back money from people that don’t quality for the full $7500 but claim it anyway but you can’t count on the Trump administration doing the same.
I am praying these are a decent alternative. Will give them a couple of years before pulling the trigger on one though.
But yes these will probably be a big deal in the custom aftermarket world, that is if the tariff king doesn’t destroy that market as well.
Slate is, perhaps unintentionally, an anagram of Tesla. So is stale.
As are “tales” and “salet,” which is of course the past tense of “sell.”
“Least” seems relevant here as well.
The modularity of this is what I like. I want it for my commuter/utility vehicle. I wanna spec rear seats and a roll bar, and put a bimini top with roll down sides on it, and I wanna bop around cottage roads and such with my kiddo riding in the back.
I also want to have zero concerns of scratching it, and unpainted plastic panels are perfect for that.
This feels like a vehicle that i don’t have to care about. Which I am alllll about. I’d splurge for the bigger batt option, otherwise I’d just leave it as-is feature-wise.
Seriously, nothing is quite so liberating as a work truck you’re not afraid of hurting. Because then it becomes the tool it was meant to be.
I wanna slap it around on narrow country roads and fire roads, do some light off roading. Cause this thing weighs about what a ZJ Cherokee weighs, and not 6000+lbs, it’ll probably do great off road, even with 2WD.
Singing like a gay theater star doing a chorus line dance….
“It’s about fucking tiiiiiiiiiiimmmmme”
100% on board for something like this. That pickup is currently preventing me from being able to get up from behind my desk for a little bit…
Question is will they be sold directly through Amazon and get delivered to you house in a giant box that is 3 times the size of what ever is in there?
With a single small wad of brown paper for ‘padding’
My headcanon is that Amazon is secretly run by cats and dogs and those oversized boxes and paper are really meant for any customer’s pets to have a great time when their housekeeper-humans order boring stuff. My cats love those kind of deliveries.
And the plastic body panels are cracked, with some fluid leaking throughout the box.
Hey, my cats love those boxes with crinkly paper in them!
We can buy all the cat toys we want, but nothing makes them happier than a box with some crinkly paper in it.
My recycling gets picked up every other week, so it’s gonna take months to get rid of that cardboard, but I am all for it.
Haha ditto mine is every other week also but I have gotten to the point I just toss all the cardboard onto the burn pile while metal and glass get recycled.
Yeah, all my paper and cardboard gets burnt, plastic, metal, and glass get recycled. Just easier.
*Has PTSD flashbacks of an entire garage bay filled with cardboard boxes from the last cross-state move*
“well over here, I saved a couple of nice boxes because they have handles. They’ll get used for something. Over there is the TV box, in case we need it. And that half of the garage are the boxes that my truck came in. I can return it within 30 days, but I need the original box and I can bring it to Kohl’s and they’ll print me a shipping tag”
I no longer recycle paper/cardboard as idiots stuff the recycling dumpster full of garbage which ends up redirecting the whole load to the landfill. So instead it is consumed by fire.
Just use the bed to take the cardboard to the local recycling center, assuming it exists.
No, sorry. This one will be tossed on the bottom step of your front porch in a plastic bag with no padding.
You’re gonna have to take it to Kohl’s within 30 days, but we’ll go ahead and ship out a new one in the meantime.
Haha that makes me think of Hey Amazon my fully optioned Slate never arrived can I get a refund or could you send me another? (Knowing full well the thing arrived but hey a free truck hah). I have a few times stuff didn’t arrive from Amazon and complained they sent me a new one of what ever it was and then the original one finally shows up out of nowhere.
Drones – one at each corner with the car suspended from cables attached to molded-in hooks. Those will double as attachment points for a DIY home lift to make those suspension mods easy-peasy.
That will be stolen by porch pirates…
The SUV version of this, while clearly Land Rover inspired, is really nice looking. With the optional battery upgrade, 240 miles of range is respectable. That said RWD won’t work for me in New England. The modular conversion from truck to SUV is pretty cool.
Meh, snow tires got me through multiple Rocky Mountain winters in a Miata as my only car. While having a spare set of tires you have to swap on every year is annoying, and then you have to store them, but it’s really not that big of a deal. If that’s your only concern, I would look into it at least still.
I do have an extra set of wheels with snows for both of our vehicles. Have been doing so for 20+ years. That said, I’d be more comfortable with AWD. I did have a RWD 5 series some years ago and with snows and traction contro,l it was pretty good but, still…
My ’90 Olds 88 company car managed the snow just fine around the hilly parts of Cleveland, even without snow tires. Granted, it was FWD. F as in front, not four.
As a New Englander who can’t get to his house without traversing a 200 foot climb over 1/2 a mile (5% grade), I could not disagree. My open diff 94 pickup has had few problems in the 10 years I have lived in my house. I’ve never had to leave it behind anywhere.
I drove a rwd sports car, lowered (less than 3″ from pinch weld to the ground), through 8 Canadian winters without issue.
My best friend, all 5ft blonde bimbo of her, drove a stick shift RWD Ranger for 5 Canadian winters to every provincial park and ski hill within 12 hours of us, and had no issues.
This sounds like a driver issue.
+! for blonde bimbo reference here….
It’s not a driver “issue”, it’s a driver “preference”.
Not clear to me how this thing is built but if the battery/motors are in the rear or distributed its going to be much better in snow than a 2wd truck or even a rwd car.
Battery will almost certainly be in the floor under the cab and under the bed, with the motor on the rear axle. Weight distribution will probably be relatively balanced, but with a slight bias to the front if I had to guess.
I think a lot of this will come down to how much weight is over the rear axle. Air-cooled VWs are absolutely phenomenal in the snow, with all that weight over the drive wheels. I drove my ’72 Super Beetle through 15+” of snow and never even got close to being stuck, although I passed several four wheel drive vehicles that got stuck. And that was on a set of incredibly cheap tires from China.
Driving from O’Hare to Green Bay, Wisconsin during a blizzard, (after my connecting flight to Green Bay was cancelled) the Chevy Cruze rental came perilously close to getting high centered on I-43, once I got past where the 18-wheelers decided to call it a night and stopped compacting the snow (Manitowoc, ironically a maker of ice machines).
No double din, no 4wd, and an aftermarket install to get the range I need. So very close to a replacement for my old Bronco II, but not quite there.
The Bronco II had a double din? I thought all Fords used either single or din and a half?
Maybe it was. It’s been a while since I had it. Regardless, it would be nice to have a spot to slap a head unit in.
Pfft. You can buy 4-channel car amps that have direct bluetooth connectivity these days. Install one of those and connect it to your phone, done.
This right here, most of America will just look at it and say, for $50/month more I can get another car with a lot more comfort.
I do get that it will sell a lot to fleets however!
I like it – a lot. I think it has the potential to be embraced by diverse buyers if they will accept the EV only format. The VW Beetle was a huge factor in raising the acceptance and popularity of small cars here. The Slate truck could do the same thing for EVs, which, if the long term goal is to get people to choose EVs, makes sense. And the more people who can afford and choose EVs, the more pressure and/or enthusiasm there will be for infrastructure support. It’s everything I’ve been advocating for in an inexpensive small truck, though admittedly I envisioned some kind of hybrid. The ability to buy in on the low end and upgrade and customize as my budget allows and as options hit the marketplace is extremely attractive. Time to put up or shut up I guess.
I’m so in. It’s got the range to get me to work and back every day, and it seems like it can haul a bed full of firewood just fine. The radio is a non-issue, just adapt a sound bar that’s made for a UTV. They can be placed any where and most are excellent. No touchscreen? Hand crank windows?
It’s simple, it’s humble, it looks nice, I can afford it. I’m SO in.
I want to like it, but there are so many unanswered basic questions (mostly price-related) that I don’t see how the Slate overcomes the fundamental requirements for a successful product.
Modularity makes things more expensive, not less. Even if the base truck is cheap, each upgrade, such as 4WD, power windows, roll bar, etc., will be more expensive than it would be otherwise. So, by the time much is added, the package will cost as much as or more than anything comparable.
That is a huge issue with something whose single purpose is to be the low-cost option, especially when all the profits made by other car makers are based on selling expensive option packages. If Slate tries to build its margin by increasing the cost of the already more expensive add-on modules, it just exacerbates the high cost issue inherent in modularity.
For it to be interesting to consumers, it needs to be significantly less expensive than a base Maverick’s $24- 28k number while still offering an acceptable profit margin. Especially when it is a design, 2-door truck/SUV, that is the configuration with the least market demand.
If it isn’t profitable at $15k or less as a starting point, I doubt it will be around long in any form other than potentially for fleet sales. Anything over that, and there are too many good used options that offer massively improved capability, no matter how you want to use your car.
I get it that flights of fancy are fun, but any review of value needs to dig into the realities rather than just cheerlead.
If the modularity isn’t being dropped into an assembly line and just being flat pack shipped to the end customer, that isn’t a cost increase for the manufacturer, that’s a cost savings. As their assembly line is literally only building one unit in one trim.
I also expect that if the things like EV motors and batteries are being offered for sale a-la carte, the aftermarket EV retrofit community is gonna give them business as well.
One tiny example is that demountable connection points cost more than fixed ones. The hardware requirements also increase costs because the hardware needs to be multi-use rather than one-and-done.
The cost of every module is also more expensive when sold separately than it would be if the car were shipped with them attached from the factory. Inventory management that requires getting pieces directly to customers involves a lot more work and material than delivering items in bulk to a factory. The assembly savings will be more than offset.
Take the sunglasses holder. A single integrated molded piece is used in most cars, and a single molded piece is used on the Slate. The one on the Slate will cost more for the consumer because it needs to be managed, packaged, and sold as a single element. Clipping it in at the factory is the least expensive method to add that feature.
The other cost increase demanded by modularity is that individual modules can’t be designed to take advantage of existing pieces. For example, a center console in a regular car can be part of the same molded part that houses the shifter, cup holder, USB ports, etc. If those pieces are separated, the cost goes up.
Now take those very simple examples and multiply it over the complex system that is a car and its manufacturing process. I have been developing products for over 30 years. Modularity increases costs—every single time.
I mean, with Bezos money on board, I’m assuming the warehousing and direct-to-customer shipping ball is already well and truly rolling. The infrastructure and mass shipping lanes already exist through the Amazon juggernaut.
Whether you clip it in at the factory or simply sell it to consumers, that part will have to be stored as an individually labeled piece at some point, cause a car you can’t buy replacement parts for is a car you do not want.
I’m not saying it’s cheaper for the consumer in the end compared to a trim package, but there’s got to be some savings in there for the manufacturer. Right down to the ship-the-car-directly-sans-dealership model.
I’ll also add that modularity should shave a LOT of tech labour time when it comes to warranty support.
I have 20 years experience in “cheap to build =/= cheap to service”.
Bezos’ money is great for development, but won’t help it be viable as a product. Unless, despite all evidence, he decides he doesn’t care about making a profit.
Yes, individual parts need to be tracked, but the work involved in getting them to individual customers is substantially higher than getting them to a factory. Consider holding costs, which is a big piece of manufacturing efficiency. If you can plan how many pieces are needed to apply to a set number of cars being built, you don’t need to buy any extra. If you are selling each piece individually, you can’t do that and need to have some extras. Now multiply that idea over and over for each “module.”
Just look at the accessory industry for trucks. Those modular pieces aren’t less expensive for what you get than factory-installed options. Price out what it would take to turn a standard F150 into a Raptor with pieces purchased separately.
You are right. It is more expensive to sell individual modules than a package. That is the point and one way of framing why modularity is more expensive.
So once again, at the dealer/distributor level, you now NEED to have holding costs for inventory post-factory. Cause if you install it in the factory, that HAS to be replaceable for warranty purposes.
If you’re only building one trim level, there’s only a set number of pieces you NEED to have stocked for warranty. The rest is accessories, so there can be a wait time associated.
I’m not in manufacturing, I’m in the after-sales cost of operation business. I see these being significantly cheaper for fleets to run overall.
They don’t have dealers; that isn’t an issue. The holding costs for delivering to factories or dealers are lower than for delivering to consumers. The Slate only uses the most expensive holding model.
Plus, the warranty holding will remain. Both for the base vehicle and for all the modules. Modules that will be more expensive than their compatible factory-installed versions. The only potential savings are in the labor to swap a failed part. The only reason that would matter is if they are so poorly made that there is a lot of warranty work.
Every vehicle has a lot of warranty work. All cars are shit.
With labour costs running $40-50/hr in just tech wages these days, book times matter GREATLY.
Apparently (according to Out-of-Spec’s video) part of that savings will come from customers being able to swap warranty pieces out themselves.
I imagine that works through “if you do it, you’ll have the part this afternoon, otherwise it’ll be 2 weeks for an appointment” type of model.
It’s also apparently very easy to work on. Out of Spec says they watched the team, in real time, swap from truck to 5-seat SUV in an hour and a half.
I bought three used cars, two of which are “certified” with a warranty. Over the last three years, only one of them has had warranty work, and it was minor. If you are focused on after-sales costs alone, the simplicity of such items matters, but in the big picture, they aren’t a huge factor. Also, the speed of reconfigurability is mostly meaningless because very few people use that function. How many Jeeps are sold with both tops and have owners who switch them regularly? 1%? How many even take off the doors?
Also, saving money by making the owner do the work isn’t a great selling point unless the price is a whole lot lower than the equivalent that somebody else has to fix. $25k for the Slate vs. $27 for a Maverick means it doesn’t look like it will be the case here.
All of modularity’s benefits are more than offset by its costs. This is largely because the areas in which modularity offers any advantage are fairly rare, while the ways it increases costs are applied to every single one sold. This has been true for as long as things have been mass-produced across all industries. Nothing about the Slate shows any reason to think it will change here.
Anecdotal evidence of ownership means nothing. Walk into any brand’s dealership and ask them what model doesn’t have any warranty work.
Here’s a hint, the answer will be “none”. Because all cars are shit. Especially when you cram more stuff in them.
That is the Zen mantra of the day. “All. Cars. Are. Shit.”
Yes, 100% of models have issues. But a small % of all cars sold do. The first stat is meaningless, the second one matters.
A small percentage of defects can still add up to a large cost sink. Especially when the labour to replace far eclipses the cost of the component.
Example: An International 4300 Durastar has an HVAC box with 3 actuators. Our cost (at the time) was $30 for the actuator, all 3 were the same.
Only one of these actuators ever broke, but it was the one that required the entire dashboard be removed to replace it. Which was quoted at 8 hours for a full re&re. Our shop rate at the time was $120/hr and tech wages were about $30/hr.
We replaced about two of those a week on average.
I have hundreds of examples like that. Building modular can save you a ton on the back-end in labour costs. Especially as a startup. If you do it right.
The system you reference was modular. The same part is used three times. Building the entire truck to allow access isn’t a question of modularity. It is a question of how the dashboard and HVAC systems are designed.
To understand that question you need to take the percentage that fail under warranty multiplied by the cost to fix it ($30part + $/hr X hrs) and then compare that to the cost to make every single dashboard and HVAC system easier to service, and then take the new cost to repair ($30part + $/hr X hrs) and see if it makes sense. This is already a big part of product development and modularity rarely, if ever, makes sense outside of using the same part as many times as possible and everyone already does that. The modularity we are talking about here is significantly different. The modules for the Slate aren’t pieces that create significant labor in current models when they fail.
Just because service techs always deal with broken items doesn’t mean that all items are broken. Especially within the warranty period, which is the only time frame that matters to manufacturers.
I think the base being stripped down is a feature, not a bug. This will likely not be for you if you are even thinking of checking the options box for power windows.
This is for people who can live with a vehicle that is bare bones… because there is nothing on the market like that. This thing spits in the face of the feature bloat that plagues new cars today, and I am here for it.
It is for sure designed as a feature, but it only matters if its cost is proportional to what the product offers.
I would love a bare-bones truck for around-town trips and projects. I would love a kei-truck if they were street legal for non-highway use. But I recently bought a ’22 Tacoma SR with no options other than 4WD with 60k miles on the clock for $22k and it is an infinitely more useful option than the Slate.
The slate needs to be SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than a Maverick to have any chance.
I mean… base Maverick is what, 27k? And goes up to something like 40k? If the base for this comes in at under 20k as promised, even like 18-19k… that is significantly less.
A 6% loan with 5k down and a few grand in paperwork/registration on the base Maverick would be around 425/month. On a base Slate, it’s 250/month. That is significant! Even if, say, you go for some options like the rear seats and squareback top (which I would) and that brings you to 20k, that’s still under 300/month.
Also keep in mind that this is an EV that will, presumably, have a much lower cost of ownership. Fewer moving parts to break, and again, if promises are kept, everything DIY fixable outside of the electric drivetrain.
Plus I think it looks way better than the Maverick.
I agree it could work if it’s cheap enough, but I think it needs to be less than what you mention to be competitive.
Technically, a base Maverick is $24k, but I haven’t seen any for less than $28k. If we don’t consider subsidies for EVs (given our regulatory environment, I think it isn’t a sure thing and isn’t a fair thing to consider during the evaluation of the products from an engineering/design perspective), and the Slate sounds like it is about $25k. That is a horridly bad value proposition, considering that all of the options will be less expensive and more profitable on the Maverick. I think the Slate would need to be under $20k before any subsidy to have a chance.
Also, the low cost of ownership for EVs is often overstated. If we are going to consider all running costs, we also need to consider depreciation and insurance. Insurance on a tiny truck has yet to be seen, but it could be an outlier one way or the other. Depreciation on EVs has been terrible to date and a model made by a startup with no track record isn’t likely to be any better.
Is depreciation on a 20k vehicle (and yes, EV subsidies are absolutely essential for the value proposition) really a worry, though? I can’t see a running, driving EV like this dropping below 10k on the used market within 5 years after launch. With a price this low, depreciation becomes almost a non-issue for me.
And it’s not just the ownership cost of an EV vs ICE/Hybrid, it’s the ownership cost of a Slate vs Maverick. Again, if we’re going by what is promised, you can conceivably DIY fix just a rear quarter panel if you get sideswiped in a parking lot. Or a bumper if you get in a fender bender. You don’t have to worry much about rust, or scratched paint, or dents.
There’s a ton to be seen still, and the Slate and it’s price is vaporware until it’s not. But if it does what it promises at the price it promises, I’m probably going to be in line to get one.
The raw dollar amount of depreciation is far less, but it still matters, especially for a vehicle in a price range and market that is 100% dependent on low cost especially because that means that it is up against used options as well.
The DIY fixes are irrelevant for a new vehicle—or should be. They will all need insurance and be under warranty. Maybe once these are on the used market, that would matter, but that isn’t going to impact how they sell when new. Maybe it will help reduce insurance costs.
I like the idea of the Slate very much. I bought the lowest trim Tacoma because I wanted a truck for home projects and our gardening hobby. The Slate would work fine for what I need but the ’22 Tacoma was there for $21k with 60k miles on it. The Slate just isn’t competitive with that. To save enough money on gas to make it worth it I would need to drive it ten times or more the 3000 miles I year I drive the truck. Which would be hard to do with its limited range.
I agree that there is still a lot to be seen but it feels like it is going to need to provide more value than what is currently promised to make a go of it.
The sub-$20K starting point depends the buyer qualifying for the full $7500 Federal EV Tax credit.
Without the tax credit this starts at the same price as a base Maverick hybrid.
Yep. For example, exposed fasteners may look neat and look “cheaper” but when you compare it to a bead of glue it’s expensive both from a material perspective and a labor perspective. I really want to like it but I think I’d rather have it be less moddable and more feature inclusive for the same price.
The cheapest 2025 Maverick is now $26,995 + 1,595 destination.
(That is the FWD Hybrid. The turbo only comes with AWD)
Now if it had a 5 speed and a 4 cylinder……
… it would completely miss the point.
A modern car without amber rear signal lights, and not getting grief?
You’re either exhausted or you’ve left your kid gloves on.
In base form, It’s giving strong Trabant vibes. Or, as ze germans might call it: The Ami-Trabi.
Already preordered mine, so I agree that their bullshit smells like roses. I’ll take mine with the rear seats but leave the top and doors at home as much as possible. Hoping for a soft top and some sort of crash bar door option. My biggest concern is that all the accessories will be where they seek to make the money so they’ll all be crazy overpriced and the “sub $20k” will quickly balloon to over $30k but we’ll see.
How much were you able to spec it out on preorder? I’m already quite interested in these for our auto parts delivery fleet. But since it gets cold here, we’ll need the bigger battery pack, I’d guess.
https://www.slate.auto/en/personalization?starterPack=blankslate#slatemaker
No pricing, but they show a lot of things you can add/change
Not at all, just said yes or no that I’m interested in the back seat. That’ll all come later supposedly
Yeah, I went through the customizer and there is a lot. And none of it shows pricing. Pretending we’re starting from exactly 20k, I started some incredibly rough estimations.
Wrap: depending on quality, I expect 2k+ and fear something around double that. More if you want to get one of the 2 tone options or any decals. There are a lot of options, and I expect some people may look at wrap/decal combos that add up quickly.
SUV Kit: adding seats and a topper probably going to add 5k-7500, given the prices for pickup toppers alone. If they can keep it under 5k, I’ll be very impressed.
Exterior: racks, spare tire holder, running boards, etc. These will add up fast for the buyer who wants them.
Lighting upgrades: fog lights, covers, and “upgrades.” Probably not expensive, but things add up.
Interior options: seat covers, speakers, accents, center console, power windows, auxiliary buttons, wraps for doors and armrests, and even a few options to add a little badge to the dash (“Slatelets”). They’ll nickel and dime a person who goes through the customizer.
And, of course, the bigger battery and anything else that goes beyond the personalization they let you mess with on the site.
I’m pretty sure you could easily double the price if you start adding things without paying enough attention.
If these start to sell, the aftermarket world will get you the accessories you desire.
I’m also pretty sure the 3D printing market for accessories will go gangbusters.
Absolutely. I’m just saying that a person who starts adding the accessories from Slate may see the price really get away from them.
Still better than locking a feature in a trim package with a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need, but I assume they are counting on some people doing a bunch of customizing through them to increase margins.
I actually don’t want most of the stuff they have on offer, but there are a lot of choices if someone really wanted to load it up straight from Slate.
There’s something to be said about buying what you can afford, and then tacking on what you want/need as you go. Maybe it takes 2 years before you get the add-on you wanted, but at least you weren’t vehicle-less until that point.
Yeah, but that’s not how a lot of buyers operate. They want the vehicle they want from the start. And I’m sure that the company would like people to buy a lot of accessories and such.
Personally, I’m thinking I wouldn’t even add the SUV kit, much less any of the extra accessories, but I always like to go through a configurator and see how quickly options add up.
It’s a great concept as a modular vehicle you add to as needed, but I just get curious what an overly excited person might add to the deal and how much it could add up to.
You’re assuming that everyone can AFFORD to do that.
I still haven’t bought another truck because with current pricing and interest rates, there isn’t one that I can budget for at the moment.
I don’t know why you are arguing with me. I’m not saying yours is the wrong way to go. I agree that it’s the smart way. All I’m saying is that some people aren’t going to do that, and they will spend the kind of money on this that no longer looks like a value proposition.
I’m not assuming everyone can afford anything. I’m just observing that there are a lot of people out there that will drop an unnecessary amount on options and accessories.
I’m pretty sure we can agree that there are people who spend money irresponsibly.
They want some of that sweet, sweet Jeep market.
People who can’t afford it aren’t profitable to manufacturers. Manufacturers only exist to generate profit for shareholders. The benefit to consumers is much lower on the priority list and only comes into play when necessary. It sucks, but that is our current economic model and it isn’t likely to improve anytime soon.
Slate has stated they plan to make their margins on accessories, not the base truck. It’s easier to nickel & dime a low-income customer over time, than it is to get them saddled up with a large note up front. Especially if their credit is shit.
Yeah, but the same is true for all other trucks and there would be no reason for Slate to be the only one able to make accessories. They won’t be able to pump up their margins on accessories because somebody else who doesn’t have the burden of making the base truck will just undercut them.
The Slate is like a design student project with the funds of Bezos. The deep pockets that allowed it to get this far won’t change the very real factors that cause every other similar system to fail.
That isn’t to say it absolutely will fail, just that nothing presented so far is new or interesting and the price being talked about is far too high for what is on offer. A $25k Slate or a $28k Maverick isn’t a close competition for overall value for 99.9% of the market. Maybe the tiny fraction of people for whom this makes sense will be enough to keep it going if Mr. Amazon wants to keep it as a pet project.
Last time I checked, trucks have the highest margin of any type of vehicle sold today. Are they making money on accessories as well? Of course. But they’re absolutely making bank on the vehicle itself as well.
Trucks have the highest margin, but almost all of that is due to the high-end trim packages. The fact that a fully loaded F150 can be double the base price. Trim packages are where the profits for car makers happen.
Most truck accessories are sold by third parties that sell almost nothing else. They don’t support the cost of the base truck, and the same would be true of the Slate. Manufacturers might offer accessories similar to third parties, but selling them after the initial truck purchase isn’t a significant source of business.
Manufacturers’ advantage is their ability to package efficiently and install features that would cost even more to apply after the fact. That is where they make their money. Slate is specifically set up to forgo the single largest money maker for selling cars.
Ford can sell a few base model Mavericks because they will drive interest in the product, but they need to sell higher trim levels to make it a product worth selling.
Slate won’t have a monopoly on accessories like Ford does on trim packages so they can’t expect to make much margin there either.
So, there is little to no margin on the base truck and little to no margin on accessories. Not much of a business case.
This is my plan if I get it. Get it very basic, and add as I go and feel the need. But I will also go aftermarket for most things, not direct from Slate most likely as I expect that will be cheaper.
Yeah I am sure you’re right, I hope you’re not though. I want it with the backseat, the fastback topper (maybe, the squared off one would be a bit more practical, just not sure I care enough and the hatchback is cooler), and some speakers. I can add some stripes or something later, no interest in a wrap on day one, most of the interior crap aside from the center console I don’t feel any need for, I would add the spare tire on the back though. If that’s still under $30k it’ll be tempting, but the closer to that mark it is, the less likely I’ll pull the trigger.
I know a lot of people are all bent out of shape that it’s Bezos founded, and I get that, but to me that tells me it’s not going the way of Fisker and the like where it will fold immediately after starting production, screwing all the owners so is he a good dude? No, but I like that they have deep pockets.
Yeah, I’m with you. Sure, I dislike Bezos and would prefer not to put money in his pocket, but his money backing this means it’s less likely to be vaporware and more likely to weather any issues that may occur early on.
Given things like Canoo’s failure, that’s a pretty big selling point.
Absolutely. I also love that the deposit is $50, if this thing evaporates tomorrow, I will be pissed, but losing $50 doesn’t hurt like the $500-1000 a lot of places want for deposits.
I dig it. In some of the photos, it looks like there’s some noticeable wear and tear already, which might not be a good thing? How durable did it feel?
My concern is the TEMU sourced parts Bezos will be using on these…