In the most surprising automotive debut in decades, Slate — a company funded in part by Jeff Bezos — just showed a brand new pickup truck that comes standard with unpainted plastic body panels, crank windows, no heated seats, no radio, no infotainment screen, and steel wheels. It is a cheap, bare-bones “blank slate” that comes as either a pickup truck, a fastback SUV, or a squareback SUV. Here’s everything you need to know about this completely outside-the-box concept that may end up being America’s only sub-$20,000 EV.
The caveat on “sub-$20,000” is that it depends on the EV tax credit, which may or may not go away soon. But even without the tax credit, the new Slate truck is expected to cost somewhere in the “mid-twenties,” which is dirt cheap. What Slate had to do to get the cost down that low is shocking, especially for 2025; the company — whose engineering is based out of Michigan and whose design studio is in Long Beach, CA — stripped the car down to its very essentials in a way we haven’t seen since… maybe the Chevy Aveo?
I visited the office in Long Beach and saw what looked a lot like a stripped-down black Ford Bronco Sport. It has plastic body panels that are designed to be wrapped, and comes in a single trim (the base model is the top-of-the-line model), which offers crank windows, no heated seats, no radio, no infotainment screen, and steel wheels. It is the most basic modern car I’ve seen since I rode in a Dacia in Romania a few years ago.
The new 400-ish-person American company — which plans to build its trucks/SUVs stateside — says in its press release that the goal since the company started in 2022 has been “simplifying the manufacturing process and removing unnecessary content to reduce cost and increase reliability.”
“The definition of what’s affordable is broken,” says Slate CEO Chris Barman in that press release. “Slate exists to put the power back in the hands of customers who have been ignored by the auto industry. Slate is a radical truck platform so customizable that it can transform from a 2-seat pickup to a 5-seat SUV.”
That’s right, the truck is the SUV. You may recall back in the late 1980s Nissan’s Pulsar, which came with a variety of different roof options. Check it out:
The new Slate follows this same model, but takes things a bit further. Not only can the Slate transform from a truck into one of two SUVs (fastback or squareback), but it can also increase its capacity from two passengers to five.
The fiberglass roofs, seats and roll cage come as as part of the “SUV Kit,” which Slate calls a “flat-pack” accessory, meaning it’s all shipped to your door in a flat-ish box. “The flat-pack accessory SUV Kit turns the truck into a 5-seat SUV, with a roll cage, airbags, rear seat. Do it yourself or have it done for you,” reads the press release, leading me to wonder if customers are meant to install their own rear airbags (surely not, right?).
The roof options represent just some of the over 100 accessories one can buy for the Slate — all of which are DIY.
You read that right: You buy a bare-bones truck, and if you want to add things like a radio and speakers and a rear-mounted spare, you just order the kit and install it all yourself. If you want to add heated seats, Slate will ship you a seat-cover accessory with a pad-heater built in. Power windows? You can install those, too. You can also buy alloy wheels and custom bumpers.
As for infotainment, the truck doesn’t come with any. There’s a place to plug your phone in and use it as your display if you like. “Bring your own tech,” is how Slate bills it, writing: “Rather than learn a new interface, use the one you love. Slate introduces the universal phone mount and USB power. Add a dedicated tablet if you want to.”
Hardware-wise, there’s a 52.7 kWh battery pack that combines with the vehicle’s light 3,600-pound curb weight and small overall dimensions to yield a range target of about 150 miles. As for charging, there’s DC “Level 3” charging with speeds up to 120 kW (using the Tesla “NACS” plug), promising 20% to 80% state-of-charge in under half an hour. At-home charging is limited to 3.6kW with a regular “Level 1” plug (11 hours to charge 20-100%) or 11kW with Level 2 (under five hours from 20-100%). There is also an optional 84.3 kWh battery pack that Slate says will offer a targeted 240 miles of range, though, unlike other accessories, this is something an upfitter would have to install if a customer wanted a range upgrade.
The battery, 150 kW (201 horsepower) rear-mounted electric motor, and gearbox (Slate says it has package-protected for a front motor in order to potentially offer all-wheel drive) are off-the-shelf items to keep cost down. It’s not exactly clear who makes these components, but 52.7 kWh is exactly the same as the Chinese Weltmeister EX5 400’s CATL-based battery pack (that’s just a guess). Suspension is a MacPherson strut setup in the front and a DeDion tube in the rear. Tires are from Kenda, a budget tire brand. The rear taillight is a single LED. And I could go on and on about other cost-saves (I plan to do a deep-dive into it soon).
As for dimensions and capacities, the 3,602-pound vehicle is rated to tow 1,000 pounds and to carry a payload of up to 1,433 pounds. It’ll do 0-60 mph in around 8 seconds, get up to a maximum speed of 90 mph, and carry up to 37 cubic feet of cargo in its bed (34 behind the front seats of the SUV). There’s also a frunk at the nose that holds 7 cubic feet.
Overall dimensions are: 175 inches long, 109 inches in wheelbase, and 71 inches wide, and 68 inches tall. This is two feet shorter than a Ford Maverick, and a couple of inches narrower; it’s a little narrower but otherwise roughly the same size as a Ford Bronco Sport, with which it shares quite a few design elements in my opinion.
As for safety, Slate says its vehicle was “designed to achieve the highest safety ratings,” and that the vehicle has Active Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, and up to 8 airbags.
Reservations of this wacky new approach to cheap EVs are now open at $50 per, with shipment expected direct-to-consumer at the end of 2026.
I still have my 2004 GMC Canyon as my second vehicle driving less than 2500 miles per year. Its currently on stands with the fuel tank dropped trying to find an EVAP leak. I think I’m ready for something like this.
Don’t be a quitter! Keep that old girl running forever! With the mileage you’re doing, it’ll go and go as long as you throw some parts at it from time to time. I love the concept if this vehicle, but it will never replace my old F150. I drive it around 1500 miles/year doing truck stuff and can’t imagine not having it. Too handy!
This is a closer to ‘transportation independence’ than anything else in the last 20 years. KISS theory. No OTA updates. Turn off your cellular data and just go places without being overlorded. No worrying whose preferences initiate based on which phone the vehicle connects to first. (Yes, that is a pet peeve). Customize to your heart’s content. This will succeed for all the reasons it was designed. But I hate to say it will likely fail because there’s not enough EV infrastructure yet to make this a profitable winner. Sucks.
I think something like this could solve our charging network thing. If the pricing is real.
I’ve been doing the math. We don’t need that much charging infrastructure. The average American drives 42 miles a day. The biggest selling EV (right now) is the Model Y that goes 4 miles per kW-hr. That means we need 11 kWh of juice to keep up with a common EV for an average American commuter.
A US Spec Level 1 charger (120V standard plug) produces 1.2kW. This means that an average EV driven by an Average American can recharge their car overnight with an average wall socket in 9 hours.
A normal 120V wall socket isn’t a big deal to wire. Street lamps could have them added easily for apartments, a house likely has outside outlets not far from where the cars are parked already.
If an average person can use an EV for their workweek, this leaves weekends and road trips. Right now, there aren’t a ton of Level 2 (that can re-charge a car overnight) or Level 3 (that can recharge it in 30 minutes or so) available. A lot of this is that the demand for these chargers are low because there aren’t a lot of EVs on the road, that don’t have an owner that already wired a Level 2 into their garage.
A cheap EV that does most of life off a 120V outlet would lead to some demand to top off after a weekend of goofing off (Level 2) or during a trip (Level 3). This increased demand would lead to a better business case to install more chargers.
But first, we have to get into people’s minds that a 120V Level 1 charger will do what they need.
That all sounds good BUT consider the source. If Amazon is involved, you can count on some sort of invasive crap. It’ll probably require some app to run the damn thing which they will use to harvest data. No free lunch here!
It’s not Amazon. Bezos is an investor, but it’s not Amazon.
This fills an interesting niche. Low cost and capable of fulfilling multiple roles.
Around here we allow Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (ahem, golf carts) on city streets but not on highways. So they’re great for a quick run to the grocery store, but useless for a major shopping run or for picking up something big from the hardware store. These things are also seasonal, as they’re also pretty useless when it’s cold and the snow flies, but the price of a new four or six passenger version is in the Slate’s ballpark.
Being cheap, electric and capable of highway speeds, this would make a great commuter. I can see a lot of these at the train station lots in the north east, for the people that take mass transit from the ‘burbs to the city center.
Auto part stores are going to love these as runners, and farmers may opt for these over Gators or quads.
I’m guessing this may be the next Element – developed by the marketing folks for one demographic, but ultimately more popular with a completely different set of customers.
I’m intrigued.
I’m curious, as you see it, who were the Element designed for and then who adopted them? I considered one back in the day.
They were intended for younger, active lifestyle consumers. The marketing had a lot of twenty somethings with surf boards, hiking/camping gear, and the like. The non-carpet interior was intended to appeal to this group for ease of cleaning.
Turned out they were bought mostly by older, empty nesters who used them to fetch plants and mulch from the garden center.
That’s an oversimplification of course, but the initial concept was developed by the marketing team, not the product development team. I’ve read a couple of articles about it over the years – apparently this was a very backwards way for Honda to do things (normally product development would come up with the concept, and then it was marketing’s job to figure out how to sell it).
The Scion xB was a similar story.
Maybe someday somebody will be able to explain the Nissan Cube to me. To this day, that one just does not compute.
Some people just want to be in a collective.
That Treks.
Insert excited Homer GIF here.
I’ll toss in a Fry “Take my money!” GIF to get this imaginary GIF party rolling.
So, the Chevy S10 is back, eh?
If there’s no infotainment screen, how are they going to handle the madated backup camera? In the dash cluster?
I could use some of these in my delivery fleet, if they come near that projected price.
Yes. I read elsewhere the backup camera takes over the cluster behind the steering wheel for the back-up camera.
Makes sense. Keep it to one supplied screen. Finally someone has taken the hint that android auto/apple CarPlay is king. Why waste your time with all that infotainment development and redundant hardware? An incidental benefit will be getting phones out of people’s hands. ALSO ALSO – physical controls are now mandatory because of this which is awesome.
Yup, I can see a lot of these showing up as delivery vehicles for auto parts stores.
If this thing is successful, there is great opportunity for a cottage industry of companies / people that install the accessories. Kind of like there is to support assembling Ikea furniture.
JC Whitney would have a whole section for this, maybe a separate catalog altogether!
Hopefully they take a page from Maverick’s book and make it easy to add your own accessories with standard mounting points and .stl files available to 3D-print stuff. That is the coolest thing about that vehicle in my opinion.
Is this the I fixit of cars? Hmm if we can DIY a range extender in the frunk it would be perfect for me.
A good thought, though to have an ICE range extender, a radiator, venting and cooling fluids system would have to be worked out. Unless it were air-cooled, then just the venting and exaust. All hail the VW SuperDuper Beetle!
I think that we have to look at the demand on the genset and work backwards. So we could work with a rotary for compact nature or diesel as it would be more efficient. But that would likely be a 10K add. unless they offered modded front bumper to account.
Absolutely fascinating. It will be a glorious experiment. If it doesn’t work, we can ignore/delete so many online comments about how people allegedly want this. If it does, great! Other automakers will follow suit and we’ll be better off for it. It’s a win-win.
On another note, many are pointing out that people don’t want to customize their cars. I’m not sure this is true as places like Crutchfield have built an entire business off of that. Modern cars just don’t support it well. Replacing the head unit in cars was extremely popular back in the day.
Even if it is true, the aftermarket is going to be insane for these things even if it only has modest sales. The very fact that the battery is meant to be upgraded from the factory means really anyone could create a company that does it. It can’t be tightly integrated with the infotainment since there is no infotainment. The SUV conversion kit is somehow DIY, which means again, anyone can reverse engineer and create a new one.
I’m not one to customize my car much, but reading that it has no infotainment nor radio brought me back to the days when I could build out my own stereo. If that caught my attention, then people who like to go all out could have a blast with a platform like this.
I think the “people don’t want to customize their cars” is abjectly wrong. Manufacturers have just made it so people can’t customize their cars because every piece is interconnected or so specific to the car. I recently replaced the battery in my Mini and had to buy the Bimmercode App and a supported OBD II dongle to register the new battery to the car. The manufacturers are actively trying to prevent DIY car maintenance/customization.
Most definitely, you want your car look at the lot and tell me if we got it. Otherwise good luck.
That has been a big thing with German vehicles for a while. Every little job requires a special tool. My BMW touring bike required a special tool just to pop the cap off the brake master cylinder. My Jetta required a reset using their prohibitively expensive special scanner tool when replacing the fuel filter and I can go on. My theory is that it is a money-grab and Europeans in general don’t want non-qualified people fixing cars or handling hazardous material (oil, antifreeze, etc.) period.
Cool idea, love the custom pieces, and it looks better here than the promotional car parked in Venice.
Unfortunately, I think this is dead on arrival. Internet commenters may claim there is a market for a stripped out car – there isn’t. People like features and they’ve proven time and time again they will pay for more.
Bare bones cars don’t exist in the US because manufacturers don’t offer them, because dealers don’t order them, because consumers don’t buy them. Simple as that.
And in this case, you’re still paying more, for less. Nearly $28k (let’s not take the tax credit for granted with this admin) for a 150 mile range car with plastic panels, steelies, and no radio!? Not happening.
It may not be a large market, but young people with their first real job would be where I’d target this. My son makes okay money in a secure job, but for what he would pay to get a used car might be better spent on something new that he can pay off fast and depend on for years. Recent college grads with associated debt, trades people at apprentice wages, high school grads still feeling out the job market and possible career paths all need something more dependable/long lasting than used may get them and the way used prices are staying high this, or something like it, may be a viable option.
Just thinking out loud, where will you find a lot of people who need something this cheap? Living in rental properties. Where there may or may not be a viable way to charge overnight. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Just wish it wasn’t Bezos. He’s like Musk but with more impulse control.
Oh, good catch. 3/4 of the cars in my household are EVs and yet I forgot about that.
This exactly. The people who need cheap, reliable transportation and can or must forego amenities just to have something functional are not homeowners. They are either in houses that they can’t modify, and are unlikely to luck out and park their vehicle next to the house to run an extension cord out the window on the average day, or they are in an apartment building where it isn’t even possible.
I dunno. I’m retired and own a house, but live on Social Security without a million-dollar retirement stash (even those with million-dollar retirement stashes may not have them in this market). If I was in the market I’d be very interested. Maybe if my KiaBoyz Soul gets stolen again. (If that doesn’t happen, I’m planning on it lasting another 9 years, at which point they’ll probably take my license away anyhow.)
I think for this to work profitably, it needs to be a large market. The margins are surely razor thin.
The biggest issue, as outlined in the other Autopian article, is that the competitive landscape is offering far more equipped vehicles for the same price. People want features.
I think this has a better shot than you think. If it was a GM product, then yes, it may be DoA, but with Bezos’ backing, and a likely tie-in with Amazon, I think people will be a little more intrigued. We’re also in an era where the average new car price is over $50k or whatever, so something this cheap, and cool-looking, will be a breath of fresh air.
The average new car price is over $50k because that’s what people are willing to pay.
Americans like well equipped cars. There are options in the Slate ballpark that are way less poverty-spec and will be a no brainer for the average consumer.
We all think this is cool, me included, but you can’t offer a car with no speakers in 2025 and say “but it’s cheap” when a Chevy Trax ($6k cheaper) or a Subaru Crosstrek (same-ish price + AWD) is loaded with modern features people have shown they want.
Where can I order?
https://www.slate.auto/
Thanks. Just placed my deposit.
Well, shit. Crank windows and no paint? Full-on modularity? Is Bezos dead set on bankrolling what could very well become my favourite modern car? Ugh.
I’d still trade this vehicle’s existence for Bezos having some sort of crisis of conscience that makes him realise Amazon profits have become obscene and start offering Amazon warehouse workers fair wages, better work conditions, benefits, etc. You know, instead of wasting those profits on companies like Blue Origin, or on that damn megayacht that would require teardown and reconstruction of public infrastructure so that he could capriciously have it fully built in one place. Stuff that he does while about half of the Amazon warehouse workforce is at or below the poverty line.
The megayacht story was covered as sort of a joke about how out-of-touch these guys are, but it’s really more insidious than that: he actually fought tooth and nail for the most complex and expensive solution rather than going with the obviously more level-headed one – if there can be anything level-headed about comissioning a $500M megayacht – having the unfinished vessel towed to be finished elsewhere. Which he ultimately did without much publicity after the public uproar caused the Rotterdam authorities to backtrack on their initial decision. Stuff like this should tell everyone that this guy doesn’t deserve our hard-earned money. That’s why I can’t root for this project, it kinda feels a lot like one of his fuck you money ventures.
Bezos doesn’t seem to be in control of Slate in any way, other than being a financial backer. In those kinds of arrangements, the control that backers like him have is typically limited to just not continuing to supply financial support if the outcome isn’t to their liking. Most likely, this is play money for Bezos. If it’s successful, it has the chance of buying him some good publicity. If he loses interest, somebody else will probably take his place as long as the company isn’t a complete clown show.
It’s kind of like Volkswagen backing Scout. They’re an investment source, but Scout isn’t being managed by them. Likewise, Slate is its own company, but it’s getting funding from Bezos’ money. Yes, depending on one’s outlook, that’s some “dirty” money. Unfortunately, investor capital tends to be ethically tainted no matter the source, if you look even slightly below the surface. I think I’d rather see Slate have a go at it than not. If they’re successful, they eventually won’t need Bezos’ money.
I get he’s not in control. He’s bankrolling it, and it they succeed he will reap the profits; if not, he’ll have lost a negligible part of his play money (I still prefer to call it fuck you money). As he was more than willing to do with the damn megayacht, and actively does his with freudian overcompensation rockets.
You know what he won’t spend fuck you money on? The people on whose backs he built his criminally obscene fortune. And it pisses me off that everyone benefits from their work translating into never before seen convenience and access to goods, but no one cares about what that means for those people, and how convenience is achieved.
Bezos is by no means the only problematic multibillionaire, but he’s still getting a pass that he should not be getting, especially after his interference with the Washington Post’s political endorsement in last year’s election. He’s part of a group of billionaires who actively played a part in swaying the election towards Trump, and who will get even richer as we all get poorer in the near future. Parasites who have benefited and will continue to benefit from everyone else’s hardship.
I can’t stay indiferent to this project especially because I kinda love it on paper. I wish he’d be backing a boring-ass SUV instead.
So it’s like Tesla was, then?
When this was first previewed as a modular car I was wondering how it could have the modular roof AND rear airbags, but it makes sense now, especially with the note that it could have up to 8 airbags.
2 front airbags, 2 front side airbags in the front seats, 2 curtain airbags in the front room section, and the optional rear seats have 2 combined side/“curtain” airbags like an NC/ND Miata. People are not installing airbags, they are installing seats that contain airbags. That said, hope they remember to connect the wiring harness.
I recently rented a Dacia Duster and it was way more loaded, including power windows and a screen and speakers to use my phone with CarPlay. Just a turbodiesel and six speed manual, no battery.
The crank windows seem designed to appeal to internet cranks, not save money. Power windows would be much more off the shelf and simple. Maybe it is designed to be a forced upgrade.
What really kills this thing is the depreciation on much better electric cars. A one or two year old ID.4/bZ4X/Solterra/Model 3 can be had for this kind of money, and say what you want about their limitations or impacted brand image, but they are way better than this thing.
WRT owners properly connecting airbag wiring, that’s a solvable engineering problem. Design connectors that mate up as the parts/panels are attached, so they have to go together every time. Useful for DIY accessories, and actually, could be useful in production-line assembly as well. It might change the cost breakdown for subassembly parts, though, which is probably why we don’t see a lot of this in current auto production.
On the other hand, they could just stick with the common design already in use. If an airbag is disconnected, it throws a code and turns on a malfunction light on the instrument display. In the event of a crash, it’s very likely that the investigation will include checking the vehicle’s data recorder for stored faults, and the airbag fault will be right there. It’s already a thing. If you have faulty airbags and a passenger is injured in your car because of it, yes, you can be liable. That won’t change here.
If there is only one option, how does choosing manual windows make it more complex? The thing that drives up costs for manufacturers is the cost of running two different options, not the cost of manual window cranks.
How is working with multiple parts suppliers and adding wiring to the assembly line cheaper and simpler?
Sounds like insurance nightmare.
“I thought I torqued down all the seatbelt anchors properly, but I know I forgot the roll cage”
You should have seen some of what came out of Detroit in the 70s as the Malaise Era came into full swing.
“Dealer prep” became an exercise in finding what was obviously missing or not bolted down on every car that came in from the factory. And then owners would inevitably find more screw-ups (Or would that be not-screwed-ups?) to bring back to the dealer to get fixed. If you knew how to work on cars, you just put things right yourself. So every car had potential DIY assembly…
I don’t think we win playing the game of who can do it worse.
Wasn’t there a recent recall for seats missing fasteners from the factory?
Edit: Kia EV9 recall https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCRIT-24V962-7747.pdf
Ugh. I want to love this. I really do. But we just don’t have a history of EVs, hell even ICE cars, hitting their original target for MSRP. By the time this thing is released to the public, I wouldn’t be shocked if it was 30k (lol if you think the tax credit will apply) with hardly any features. I mean, trust me, I’m salivating at the potential of this thing, after all, this product is probably the wettest of Autopian dreams you could whip up.
Fucking modular shit? Hell yeah.
But that 150 mile range isn’t going to cut it. I like others, wish this thing was going to get a basic 2.0L or a small hybrid.
I’m down the road from the last failed affordable EV pickup, the Lordstown Endurance, which was going to be a bare bones pickup for $50k. This one will be half the price. I’m intrigued but not optimistic
I also didn’t consider this thing is RWD only. Between that and the 150 mile range, this thing might be DOA in northern climates.
I get that a lot of these manufacturers need to get their product out and start making sales, but I think it’s a horrible marketing decision to release a short range version before the long range version. Once anyone that experiences winter hears about the 150 mile range in ideal weather, they’re not going to keep this thing on their radar for when they increase the range. It’ll be written off entirely.
I’m in the north and think it’s fine for how I’d use it. It has to be short local trips only in the cold when the range is going to drop to ~100 miles, but I can live with that.
Yep, when the weather turns to snow and ice, throw some weight in the back, the way we’ve always done with 2WD pickups.
The non-ludicrous hp/torque numbers tend to indicate that it won’t be constantly giving the traction control a workout on snow and ice; it ought to behave more like a “normal” ICE vehicle instead of an electric torque monster. Electric power delivery is fantastic, but it has to be tempered on slick surfaces. And honestly, we don’t all need Cybertruck/Hummer EV levels of output just to get stuff done with a truck.
Even in the 25k-30k range, I’m not sure I can accept spending that sort of money on a vehicle that can only do a 100 mile round trip on a super cold day.
But if you don’t have the need to ever drive that far then I suppose it works fine.
It seems like a pretty basic machine. I doubt it will be very comfortable for long journeys.
If you need more range, you probably also want a nicer / quieter place to sit.
Figure closer to 70-75 miles. Remember you are only supposed to charge then to 80% to begin with, then the cold will rob 40-50% of that. Plus you’ll need some electricity to defrost the windows even if you aren’t planning to heat the cabin (good luck with THAT on a clod day).
In my Ioniq 5, I lost about 30% of range in the cold.
Modularity is inefficient, and its cost will likely kill this. By the time you clip on enough options to make it what people want, it will be more expensive than comparable options. The one thing it has going for it is that its base configuration as a tiny pickup/CUV is unique in this market. But if a few popular options and the bigger battery make this approach the cost of a base Maverick, it isn’t going to work.
I get the feeling that they’re hoping to make the bulk of their profits with a combination of fleet sales and accessories. It’d be easier to talk someone in to a $3k hardtop when the base price is so low.
You say reservations are open, where? I can’t find a link anywhere
Disregard, I’m dumb. Found it and placed my reservation
In keeping with the old school minimalist theme, you have to mail them a self-addressed, stamped envelope and they’ll send back a form for you to fill out. Only personal checks and money orders accepted.
Haha fair. Money order is in the mail then
I haven’t heard someone mention “self-addressed, stamped envelope” in double-digit years. My childhood with a MAD magazine.
The good old SASE.
Be sure to include the UPC symbol from the box as proof of purchase.
Uhhh…is this a misprint? Unless one replaces the circuit’s breaker with a roll of pennies, a 120v outlet usually tops out at ~2kw.
Maybe they had the 220~240V countries in their heads whilst writing this?edit – never mind, I now understand they only sell in the US.
Most convenience chargers, ie 120v are ~1kW. Even for those chargers that are slightly higher amperage the car itself limits it to 8a or 10a.
I see A/C. Is that standard? Crank windows and steelies work for me but A/C is a must. I want to believe but I have never seen a vehicle come to market at the price promised. I hope it all works out.
I’m loving the Citroën Méhari vibe.
If the execution is as good as the concept I think it’s great. A bed with flip down sides would e the perfect option.
I said before that I thought it was built for the burbs. Let me explain and defend that a little bit for the person who was kind enough to read my hot take earlier.
I see about two and a half groups of buyers for these. The first being fleet buyers who don’t exactly hate stripped down vehicles that are cheap to operate. The second group being those who I will call fashion and/or passion buyers. The final half group being folks who just want the least expensive EV out there. Some of the design and feature choices, or possibly more accurately, the lack of features lead me to this.
Things like the plastic body panels designed to be wrapped. I think wrapping is just going to grow and grow popularity. It should appeal to the fleet buyers for logo and advertising purposes. The fashion and passion group will love being able to make it their own (I know I dream of VW Harlequin motifs). The cheap group won’t do shit and will love the ruggedness of that plastique.
The commodity battery doesn’t provide much range, but the price is probably right and should also appeal to the fleet, passion, and cost-conscious groups. The range and size further lead me to the burbs. It’s still a wee big to be considered a true ‘city car’, but about perfect for our brand of sprawl
The fleet buyers should love the two door zero frills pickups. The passion and fashion buyers will like the ability to load them up with ala carte options. That is the group I see mostly as suburbanites. I can’t see tons of these going to rural areas and I’m having trouble seeing these as being ideal for urban settings given the two door only nature, however, the thrifty will not mind the two-portedness if it saves a buck.
I personally love the blank slate theme and the idea of installing my own stuff. I mod everything anyway whether it needs it or not, so not having to design, wrangle and fight as much has both appeal and a little lack thereof.
Guess where I live? I can 100% see these as a discretionary purchase by some of my neighbors. I think they’re mostly over buying Wranglers Unlimited
More of a new early Scout than the new Scout with the ability to bolt on a wagon or coupe top on your pickup. I’m assuming the bulkhead is removable unlike the first Scouts.
I’m afraid that it is going to be one of those cases where a mfg brings out what the internet has been saying they want, but very few will actually put their money where their mouth is.
“but very few will actually put their money where their mouth is.”
Sure they will….in about 5 years and for 1/4 the price of new.
Yup their is a huge overlap of the people who want something cheap and the people who will wait for one on the used market.
I guess Amazon is taking the place of IKEA in a lot of ways flat pack SUV conversion pretty neat idea. All the accessories like Scion did but to the extreme. I think it will sell well in places where it gets extra incentives. It’s cheaper then an imported new kei truck so will probably absorb most of that market maybe will absorb some nev market. Still seems like they are dependent upon incentives to get it to a price even worth considering.
Absolutely gutted it’s USA only
This thing is rad and I want to buy one. Truck first then a fun DIY change into a neat Bronco II suv! The interior reminds me of the first Generation S10 interior-the refreshed hockey stick gauge one. Super cool. Still faster than any of those original small trucks…