I just experienced the craziest new-car reveal ever. Slate, a new company that — according to a recent article by Tech Crunch — has been secretively engineering a $25,000-ish electric vehicle using funding from Jeff Bezos and other investors, just showed off its new car by hiding it in plain sight. The company put an absolutely absurd wrap on its new SUV and then just parked the SUV on the side of a trendy street in Venice, California, with zero information. No sign, no representative, no press release — just a car that has scores of pedestrians craning their necks wondering: “What the?!” I just drove to Venice; here’s what I saw.
This is not how new-car debuts happen. Automakers are usually obsessed with “messaging.” They spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring photographers to make sure the perfect photos are released ahead of a debut, they make sure they invite the “right” journalists to the reveal event, they stage the cars just so, and they not only send out press releases to ensure the brand is received is a very particular way, but they have representatives at the reveal event say all sorts of brand-ish things (words like s”dynamism” and “soul” are often used) to make you all think the car is maximally cool.
Slate didn’t do that. Slate went wacky and just showed the car off by dropping a design buck on the side of Abbot Kinney Boulevard, a popular shopping destination in always-trendy Venice. And to make sure people pay attention to this mystery machine, Slate has wrapped the car in an extremely strange livery for a fake company that I guess drives your baby around on the car’s roof until the baby falls asleep?
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“Cryshare” in the name of the clearly-fake company, with the message on the back window reading: “When baby drives you crazy, we drive them to sleep.” The baby seats on the roof had more than just a few pedestrians scratching their heads as took these photos.
The binkies/pacifies on the B-pillar and the huge one on the front of the car are bizarre.
I asked a few people about what they thought, and they like the overall shape. “A two-door SUV, count me in!” is (approximately) what one gentleman told me as he asked what I was taking photos of. Sadly, I couldn’t tell him everything I knew, since I’m under a strict NDA, but what I could tell him is that this is the new Slate!
We’ve already written about spy shots of a pickup truck version, and the reason why I even drove to Venice is because this Reddit thread showing a similarly-wackily-wrapped coupe-ish SUV:
Saw this in a tiktok ad, can yall tell what it is??
byu/tough_stough inwhatisthiscar
So now we’ve seen a truck, a coupe-ish SUV, and this boxy one that looks a lot like a Land Rover Defender in profile.
It looks cool, and most importantly, the way this brand new company just showed off its first vehicle has to be the boldest, wackiest thing I’ve seen in my career — I’m here for it!
By the way, those of you who know me are probably wondering if I crawled underneath; of course I did! What I saw were some BFG all-terrains and what looks to clearly be a non-functioning design-buck with no powertrain or real suspension.
Still, this is approximately what you can expect the new Slate to look like, so get excited! The full reveal is coming in just a few days on April 24, and while I can’t tell you anything right now, what I can say is this: Prepare to have your minds blown.
This vehicle is unlike any new vehicle I’ve ever seen not just in my decade of being a car journalist, but in my entire lifetime. April 24; get excited!
All Photos: David Tracy
Electrified Isuzu Trooper II!!
That license plate is awesome.
Hm. I might just sell someone’s kidney to get one of these. Especially if it is a full EV and the interior isn’t a Tesla.
Maybe it’s only 25k because the drivetrain and suspension are sold separately? Like why spend all that money developing a car that functions? That just adds to the cost! The people want a 25k car. Give the people something that is both 25k and technically a car. If they actually want to drive it somewhere, they’ll figure it out.
You joke, but this was initially the pricing strategy of Smart USA when it first launched its EV! $25k got you an electric Smart, but the battery was an $80/mo lease. Sure, the lease meant getting an unlimited mile battery warranty, but also meant you didn’t actually own the pack. Thankfully, that strategy changed later on.
Hopefully the SUV and coupe SUV are caps for the truck just like an old school 4runner or Nissan pulsar
“When baby drives you crazy, grab a 12-pack and smoke a lil hazy…..”
This feels like a stunt based on the fact that the spy shots were leaked via r/whatisthiscar — ensuring that it got posted to the same subreddit.
Do we think David actually got invited to see the ‘event’ by Slate themselves?
Hate to be a party pooper but if this is supposed to be electric in any way the range is gonna be trash because of the aerodynamics; that coupeish version in the reddit post won’t be much better. Its gas mileage will likely be comparable to a Bronco Sport. Not sure how they’re gonna make an EV version at $25k hit even 200mi, so it’ll have to be an EREV/PHEV at least.
Oh my goodness if they introduce ANOTHER SUV and not a nice tiny truck, I will f-ing lose my shitballs.
I like the slightly extended homage to SUVs like the original Bronco (or “4x4s” as they called Broncos before the term “SUV” was invented).
Not sure I’d use a launch opportunity to emphasize the worst use case for a 2-door SUV (or any other 2-door vehicle, really), which is placing a kid into, and retrieving said kid from, a child seat in the rear compartment. Parents will just love being reminded of the fun of hoisting 20-pound Junior over a folded front seat several times a day.
It seems like there’s space to engineer rear doors on the larger version, so maybe that’s coming in the future.
I’d be OK with a mutli-tool like the old Bronco / 4-Runner. Popular cars. For the right person.
20-pound, he said.
I struggle with the 2 doors with kids don’t work take. I had 2 kids in boosters and 1 in a car seat all at the same time. I also drove a 2001 Honda Civic coupe and honestly I thought it was easy enough getting them in and buckled. With the front seat folded forward and the larger coupe door I found it simple and smashed my head on the top of the door frame way less than the ford Taurus my wife was driving. If a kid was having a rough day and putting up a fight, there was room for me to climb into the rear and get them buckled.
Hey David… A couple of questions:
1) How did they not get hassled for trademark infringement by Slate webzine people? (Does he own them too?)
2) What are you doing working on Easter Sunday? (Yes, Venice is a nice place to brunch on a sunny Sunday. Maybe you were killing two birds/doves? with one trip.)
Anyway, God Bless
No, Graham Holdings owns Slate the magazine. Confusingly, Graham Holdings also used to own the Washington Post, which is now owned by Bezos.
This would be the best auto trademark infringment case since Mead Corporation (maker of the LEXIS legal database system) sued Toyota (maker of Lexus automobiles). Toyota won, BTW.
The Lexus Diner in Newburgh , NY existed wayyyy before Lexus the Toyota brand . Toyota sued and won . It is now the Alexis Diner . True story …
Amazon has a little slate/tablet thing called the Fire and…. Well probably that’s a non starter as a name too.
Although Renault had the Fuego , so who knows?
Trademark infringement only applies if you can argue that customers would be confused. In this case, a car and a website are not in the same product category.
And even then, with enough money and lawyers, that can be overlooked. See ‘Prime trucking vs Amazon Prime trucks’ for example…
A software company I worked for was sued for TI because of a product that didn’t even have the exact same name (off by a couple of letters) by an airport parking company. They just changed the name of the product to avoid litigation.
re: Easter; David has been previously described on this site as a devout Catholic, so I’m pretty sure it was on his calendar. But point 2 was meant more as a joke. I should know better than to joke about religion. Sorry.
Has a strong Ranger / Bronco II vibe . I LOVE IT .
If this doesn’t turn out to have a Xtronic, then you’ll be the biggest liar in Autopian history, David, because you got to witness the release of the most sophisticated transmission ever built, the Jatco Xtronic CVT. Nothing can top that and you know it.
Factory rumored to be in Indiana. Anybody got the scoop?
Nobody I know has any info on it. Musk and Scaringe started with existing defunct assembly plant sites and lots of state gravy.
I can’t think of any defunct sites in the areas I normally travel, and not I, nor any of my fellow engineering buddies have been contacted by anyone via recruiters or LinkedIn. So while that’s no definite sign it’s not in Indiana, it does make it less likely.
(Not saying I’m some kind of required hire for a new factory, but with my wife and I both being engineers, and with my current role being automotive, we both tend to get a decent number of recruiters calling, and speak with a lot of other engineers.
And if I am wrong… This looks like it could be a fun way to change things up in my career!
Designing and manufacturing and testing a suspension, engine, and interior in 4 days seems like an unrealistic schedule.
Unless its already done and the design buck is a red herrring.
Or a pink herring.
for 25k, I would take any of the above! Im hoping for 2 or 4wd, 200 mi range, and COLORS
Honestly for 25k I would have not-more-than-2nd thoughts about some rattle can shenanigans.
This is exactly the kind of style I want. Simple. Basic. Minimalist.
The vehicle presents a clean slate for the owner to make what they want from it.
If I can get a Defender shaped 2 door with 300 miles of range for 30k I might actually be an EV believer
I like it. Make mine with a 2.0L turbo, a stick, and a minimally screened interior with real buttons and gauges, and I will buy one.
I am not holding my breath.
Considering this is an EV, I would say a 2.0 turbo is unlikely.
Porsche makes “turbo” EVs!