It feels like I’m getting asked about the Slate Auto EV every few hours as people seem desperate to know what to think. For such a simple-looking truck, the emotions and questions around its existence are unusually complex. That’s reasonable. This truck is being sold as a repudiation of modern cars, which it is. More importantly, it’s a wholesale rethinking of modern carmaking. That it looks cool is just a bonus.
I wanted to start The Morning Dump on a high note. I want to be excited about things. So much car news has been depressing lately, even though there’s plenty to look forward to.
In other news Chinese automaker BYD’s net income was higher last quarter, which is good news for them. Do you want that good news to be more American? Sure, fine, Foxconn says it’ll start building electric cars for someone in Ohio as early as next year.
Tariffs remain the supermassive black hole around which the universe currently spins, and putting a positive spin on that is a challenge. Here’s one: Japan can maybe get its tariffs removed if it can convince the President of the United States that it isn’t dropping bowling balls on American cars to disqualify them, which it isn’t doing.
How The Slate Auto EV Is Built Is The Most Interesting Thing About The Slate Auto EV
If you were somehow sequestered from the web for the last few weeks, perhaps exploring the Tonga Trench in your personal submersible, then you’ve missed all the excitement around the Slate Auto EV truck/SUV. The TL/DR is that a Bezos-backed company is going to build a Sub-$20,000 (with current incentives) EV truck that you can turn into an SUV yourself, has no paint, comes with crank windows, and offers rear airbags you can install yourself.
Just here, we’ve written about the engineering, the powerplant, the fun wraps, and the whole concept of a DIY car. All of that’s important, and it all seems designed to get people to talk about it so that they, eventually, plunk down $50 to maybe buy one at some point in the future. I put in my own $50, as much out of curiosity as sincere intent to purchase.
I think all the hype around the vehicle is deserved. This is a genuinely new idea backed by an individual who can afford to see it through the difficult early stages. What’s most fascinating to me, though, isn’t what it is but how it might actually come to exist.
The car didn’t become the car, really, until it could be mass-produced. The Model T was far from the first automobile, but people think of it as the first and most important vehicle because of Henry Ford’s moving assembly line. The same could be said of the Toyota Corolla and the Toyota Production System, which allowed the Japanese automaker to expand rapidly and efficiently to compete with more established automakers.
More recently, “gigacasting” became an industry obsession as Tesla went from making Roadsters essentially by hand to building massive production facilities that produce enough Model Ys to replace the Corolla as the most popular car in the world. Gigacasting and Gigafactories became key, with giant casts reducing the number of parts required to make a car.
It’s a very Musk-ian view of production, relying on a huge sci-fi scale to achieve corporate dominance. The Bezos-backed Slate Auto has a completely inverted concept. For all the talk of how electric cars are simpler and require less complex drivetrains, the actual electric cars you can buy are enormously complex and expensive. They’re also all produced in factories that look a lot like existing car factories.
Slate Auto’s first plant doesn’t sound anything like a modern car factory. Right off the bat, there’s no paint. Just last year, Toyota invested $922 million to build a new paint shop at its Kentucky plant. Painting cars is one of the hardest parts of making a modern car, and Slate Auto has entirely done away with it.
How? The body panels are dent- and scratch-resistant injection molded polypropylene composite material. Basically, it’s plastic, just like the old Saturns. If you want color on your truck, you can just wrap it, or Slate Auto can wrap it for you. This is theoretically way simpler.
It’s way more than that, though, and Tim Stevens writing for The Verge captures a lot of what’s interesting to me here:
Vehicle factories tend to have high ceilings to make room for the multiple-story stamping machines that form metal body parts. Injection molding of plastic is far easier and cheaper to do in limited spaces — spaces like the factory that Slate has purchased for its manufacturing, reportedly near Indiana. “The vehicle is designed, engineered, and manufactured in the US, with the majority of our supply chain based in the US,” Snyder says.
The simplification goes simpler still. Slate will make just one vehicle, in just one trim, in just one color, with everything from bigger battery packs to SUV upgrade kits added on later.
“Because we only produce one vehicle in the factory with zero options, we’ve moved all of the complexity out of the factory,” Snyder says.
Making cars is hard and expensive. At least it is if you make it the old-fashioned way. At one point last year, Rivian lost $39,130 for every car it sold, which seems bad until you find out that Lucid was losing $341,604 over the same period. Both the Rivian R1S and Lucid Air are almost certainly better vehicles than the Slate Auto EV, but there’s no way to make them as cheaply.
Over at TechCrunch, Sean O’Kane has identified the likely facility in Warsaw, Indiana, likely to be used by the company:
Slate Auto, the buzzy new EV startup that broke stealth this week, is close to locking in a former printing plant located in Warsaw, Indiana as the future production site for its cheap electric truck, a review of public records shows.
The company is expected to lease the 1.4 million-square-foot facility for an undisclosed sum. Economic development officials told local media earlier this year (without naming Slate) the factory could employ up to 2,000 people, and that the county offered the undisclosed company an incentive package.
It’s probably possible to turn an old printing plant into a facility that makes modern cars, but my guess is that it would be so expensive that most automakers wouldn’t even bother. If Slate can take an existing space like this and make it work, then we could be looking at a new paradigm in carmaking.
And why stop at a truck? If this same form factor is successful, Slate Auto can find another facility and make a sedan, or a three-row SUV, or just about anything. Tesla and many other automakers are betting that anyone who can’t make a car with high processing power produced at scale with huge casts won’t survive. They may be right, but what if they’re not?
BYD Made 3x The Income Tesla Did Last Quarter
I try not to get too caught up in the horse-race aspect of modern business reporting, where one quarter’s result is extrapolated out into the future, only to be reversed three months later. It’s totally possible Tesla rights the ship and sails ahead of BYD next quarter, or that BYD is itself surprised by a Chinese rival lurking below the surface.
Every trend starts with a single data point, and at the moment, it seems like smooth sailing for BYD as Tesla flounders.
BYD Co.’s net income in the first quarter jumped to 9.15 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), overtaking Tesla Inc. on another key metric and signaling a robust start to the year for China’s no. 1 selling car brand.
Shenzhen-based BYD’s net income was higher than the 8.1 billion yuan projected by analysts. While the carmaker’s sales of 170.36 billion yuan for the three months ended March 31 were up 36% year-on-year, they fell short of analyst expectations. Tesla reported net income of $409 million for its first quarter earlier this week, much lower than what the market had been looking for.
Considering the first three months of the year are generally the slowest for Chinese automakers, with the period containing the long Lunar New Year holiday, BYD looks set for a strong 2025. Its car sales for the quarter were just shy of 1 million units, putting the Chinese behemoth well on track to achieve full-year sales of 5.5 million, including 800,000 exports.
All of these nautical metaphors are making me hungry. Would it be bad to have a shrimp cocktail for lunch?
Who Is Foxconn Building A Car for?
Most recently, Taiwanese mega-conglomerate Foxconn showed up around here as the company that almost-maybe-sort of-could have bought Nissan. Before that, Foxconn was maybe going to make cars for Fisker and trucks for Lordstown Motors in the former GM facility it purchased in Lordstown, Ohio. That didn’t quite happen, and the whole thing was a bit of a disaster. Making cars is hard!
Whereas Tesla is going big and Slate Auto is going small, Foxconn is hoping to do what it does with phones and be a source of contract manufacturing. According to this Automotive News report, Foxconn is going to be making its Model C electric crossover for… someone.
The company is rapidly refurbishing a former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, as a U.S. production hub. The plant, which has capacity for hundreds of thousands of vehicles when fully tooled, could be pumping out vehicles as early as next year.
Speaking on the sidelines of Taipei’s big mobility show this month, Jun Seki, the Nissan veteran who now runs Foxconn’s nascent electric vehicle business, said Foxconn is well on track.
The company has a U.S. client, and the customer will start selling the Model C this year, he said.
Seki declined to name the customer, keeping with Foxconn’s canon of confidentiality as a contract manufacturer. But the U.S.-spec crossover grabbing eyeballs at this month’s Taiwan 360° Mobility Mega Show foreshadows what’s in store. It has a wavy side crease, funky hood air vent, wraparound headlamps, panoramic sunroof and huge vertical infotainment screen.
I have more questions than answers on this one, unless someone wants to help me out below.
President Trump And The ‘Bowling Ball Test’
It’s not often I get to “embed the truth” on this website, but that’s what President Trump’s own social media network allows me to do. Literally, that’s what it says when you try to embed a post: it says “EMBED TRUTH.”
There’s some irony to this, as we’re entering Day 17 of the 90-day pause with none of the 90 promised trade deals in sight. Perhaps one can be worked out with Japan, as the President recently noted that “Japan’s bowling ball test” is a form of non-tariff “cheating.” Japan should be able to easily get rid of it as it doesn’t exist, though I suppose the point is to highlight what he says are Japan’s “Protective Technical Standards.”
From the Financial Times, which is on the bowling ball beat:
The US president first referred to the test in 2018. “They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and they drop it on the hood of the car. And if the hood dents, then the car doesn’t qualify,” he said. “It’s horrible, the way we’re treated.”
On Sunday he again cited the test on his Truth Social platform as an example of “protective technical standards”.
Japan does not carry out such tests on its cars, although one carried out in the country and elsewhere does entail hitting a car with a rounded object at a speed of 35kph, to simulate an impact with a pedestrian. In the test, a dent in the bonnet typically indicates good shock absorption and a potentially less deadly impact.
Unrelated: America lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to pedestrian safety (see: the existence of the Cybertruck); perhaps we should also raise our standards?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
My daughter had a dance recital this weekend, and she performed to Billy Joel’s “Vienna.” It was beautiful, but also bittersweet. As the song reminds you, growing up happens so fast. Maybe too fast. Don’t be in a hurry.
The Big Question
Assuming the Slate truck/SUV sells at volume around its projected price, what should Slate Auto build next?
Photo: Slate Auto
Small Wagon. the answer is always “Small Wagon.”
If Slate’s market is supposedly just the comment section here, then it’s a 2 door UTE with an optional top that makes it into a 2 door wagon.
Warsaw Indiana is an hour away from me. If the Autopian wants me to freelance for them, I’d be happy to get some spy shots.
“Do you want that good news to be more American? Sure, fine, Foxconn…”
Uh oh!
cab-over van
If I’m Slate, I hope to make the pickup and SUV thing for a bunch of fleets and some number of personal buyers, probably modify the same design for some delivery vans, then move onto something more aerodynamic on the same platform that can offer better range.
Of course, I would think they would not want to overextend themselves until they know they have a solid market, so that is probably some time off.
I would vote for a Slate small wagon, although I’m not sure if that would be able to give modularity to other body styles, maybe some sort of small van conversion? Make it front wheel drive, with a simple rear twist beam axle, with optional hub motors for AWD. Keep the different suspension height options, but lower and more streamlined overall with higher efficiency than the truck.
“Gigafactories” have been around for a long long… long time.
The fact that the factory Tesla procured was already a “gigafactory” rarely seems to come up.
Saying it’s an anti-gigafactory because it doesn’t have a paint shop (it doesn’t need) or stamping presses (which it would need if they built their frame parts in house) indicates they’re just taking Tesla and combing it with the simplicity of making one thing.
This works really well right up until you have to make a second thing. Or a full model change.
Tesla seems to get away without full model changes – so we will find out over time if that is even necessary.
I commented above, but when I worked for Honda the only stampings we did in house were A-class surfaces like the roof, door skins, hood, etc. Everything else was done by a stamping supplier then shipped to us to be welded up with the A-class parts. If the A-class stuff is all plastic, I bet they completely eliminate in-house stamping.
“The body panels are dent- and scratch-resistant injection molded polypropylene composite material. Basically, it’s plastic, just like the old Saturns. If you want color on your truck, you can just wrap it, or Slate Auto can wrap it for you.”
Perhaps at some point Slate can add dyes to the plastic to make colored panels just like GM did. As a bonus scratches won’t show nearly as much.
Yeah, I would love to see this with the Saturn dyed plastic. I knew a guy who scraped a guardrail and it didn’t show that much (up close, the texture was bad, but the color wasn’t the tell).
Even if you still want to wrap it, starting with a base close to the wrap color could hide some wear.
One can hope the aftermarket steps in.
First I’d like to see them switch the default molded-in color to something less grim than gray with black wheels. Go for white or silver steelies and mold the body in red or blue. A light blue like the most iconic mid century small cars all offered wouldn’t be any more challenging than gray to wrap.
Gray makes sense as it is probably less expensive than white or colors.
Plastics guy here… gray is the easiest to keep consistent so all the panels come out the same color. Also if they ever want to use recycled plastic, anything other than gray is an absolute nightmare to work with
I would like molded in color too!
But this falls in line with all the other comments of “do this,” “do that,”make a wagon,” make a ____.”
All great ideas!
But more than most other new car startups these guys do actually seem bent on making it happen – and creating a bunch of different colored panels would make this much more difficult.
They have the mini truck that turns into a mini SUV so maybe a extremely cheap city car people still want those too. Something like the geely panda. Or one of the various kei cars boxy is in again.
I wonder what will come to market first: this, or the Scout?
I also wonder if it’ll stay at the price point they announced.
As much as I’d love to see a Slate sedan/hatchback, the easiest new model would simply be a stretched version of the 2 door truck/SUV. More doors and more seats will probably equal more sales, at least here in the US.
By the way, I must’ve missed it, but will the Slate truck have rubber floors? I wish more cars did.
Keep the modularity, set it up like the Dodge Shadow with a 3-box sedan look but actually a hatchback, this time opening to the load floor. Swappable slanted hatchback, wagon or crewcab pickup modules.
A Econoline Van style platform where a forward cab and chassis could be made into a one box van, a cube truck, a flatbed, ice cream truck or whatever. It’s both a modular platform that Slate seems to geared up to do, and there is a commercial ecosystem it would slot into.
If they haven’t used the model name “Blank” already, the Blank Slate would be an excellent choice.
You had me at Saturn.
I think it’s smart for Slate to start with a pickup/SUV instead of a hatchback, which often is the form factor for cheap as shit vehicles being introduced by new-to-you budget brands. But I do hope they move to a small hatch after this. A hatchback using these same principles could be cheap and fun.
This is sort of how Elio was pretending they were going to make their legally not cars autocycles, one standard configuration with options installed at the dealer. In some ways, it’s sort of a return to how a lot of the industry worked in the 30s and 40s, with large lists of dealer installed accessories
There’s quite the buzz around this thing; I had two non-enthusiast friends text me articles about it this weekend saying this is the EV they’d want to buy.
I’m more excited about the manufacturing concept than the vehicle itself, I really like the idea of the non-painted body panels and the modular nature of the thing. I always thought that was the one cool thing about Smart cars – you could change the color of the car just by switching panels. And If I understood the videos I watched correctly, there are a bunch of different rear sections that can be added to convert to an SUV of various shapes and window configurations.
I was in business school when Smart announced they were coming. I was super excited for the modular panels and customization aspect, even if the reality we got was very little of that. Modularization could be the saving grace (or necessity) of the auto industry going forward.
I still want that Double DIN slot, though! Just make it a storage cubby, but wire it up (along with a universal tablet mount)!
Agree on the double DIN.
I think with vehicles getting more and more expensive as people have less and less disposable income, new manufacturing processes like this will be very important. I really like the idea of getting the basic unit and being able to add or change features easily as budget and needs change.
I think there could be a strong demand for basic, but functional transportation like this.
So Lordstown is the new Uusikaupunki?
A brown longroof with a thousand hp able to stomp any Tesla into the pavement? Or get this one into production according to the promises.
I would love to see Slate do a car, make it the same but lower and it can be like the Nissan Pulsar where you can slap different things on the back. Want a hatchback? It’s an option, want a convertible? Great! Sleek coupe, it’s that too! All of which can have a backseat or large parcel shelf.
I got stuck on ‘near Indiana‘ in the Tim Stevens quote. How near is near? One state – so Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, or Kentucky? Or is two states still near enough? In that case could it be Canada too? Fairly near. And I know the second quote named the town, ‘Near Indiana’ just sounded so dumb.
I think Slate should have a four-door crossover. That’s what the people seem to buy. I’d like it more if they built an analog roadster to spit in the eye of the new Tesla roadster that will never come out.
I was sort of expecting that the Slate truck would be flat-packed and shipped to my door for final assembly (IKEA style), so it’s nice to hear that there is a factory.
To be pedantic, the Ikea flat packs come from a factory.
Slate as a concept is pretty great, and I’ve already spent way too much time on their builder. It’ll be really interesting to see how close the actual car gets.
But the one thing that just isn’t clear: people seem to think Bezos is building cars now. Right down to the comparison of Prime Video and its “awesomeness.” And I just don’t see that. It’s really convenient to say “Bezos backed Slate” in media headlines, but the reality is that he’s one of 16 investors involved in series A funding the team received. He’s not at all involved in the series B funding they received. Bezos really needs to be considered as nothing more than a wealthy person looking for an ROI and a little green washing for his other endeavours.
It kinda doesn’t do the team justice to keep referring to them in context to Bezos…especially when he very likely has no impact on the product at all. Though for now, I’d guess they’re happy with the PR.
The only reason everyone keeps saying Bezos’ name is because it’s attention-grabbing. Otherwise it’ll be like calling everyone who’s 401k has a stake in an investment fund that owns Tesla shares an “Elon Musk supporter”, which would basically amount for a majority of US populace.
tldr: it’s the definition of ‘click-bait’
Thinking of the journalist who explained last year how her news story about Joe Biden had to have “Trump” in the headline or nobody would click on it.
I think the one relevant piece of this is that if Bezos doesn’t like where things are going, he can influence it (possibly in the wrong direction).
I mean, a year ago most people were like “Southwest Airlines will be fine, they have a cult following for a reason. Activist shareholders just like to feel important….”
Re: Slate, this take is insightful, and hell yeah we may be witnessing the first real innovation in car making since the damn Beetle. And while I encourage diversity over monotonous, uber large production, and love this concept as a diy-er, I am starting to get annoyed with the cost that’s higher than a base Maverick. That’s not very Beetle-y at all.
It seems very Saturn come to think of it, which explains the plastic body panels in both cases.
To follow along with their multi-use trend, I think Slate could do a cab over style body that could serve as the basis of a kei truck like platform with a 8ft bed that could be converted into a van (passenger and cargo) and small box truck.
As a huge cab-over fan (for its great use of outside dimensions over inside space and ease of maneuvering in tight spaces), I don’t think there’s a realistic way to make that work with 21st century crash standards (without the use of some very expensive carbon-fiber composites or some similiarly crazy materials)
Yeah, true cab over wouldn’t be possible but one can dream.
It would have to be something more mini Ford Transit style and less Honda Acty