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 in the “whatisthiscar” community showed a similarly-wackily-wrapped coupe-ish SUV (with an absurd cat-therapist livery!):
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 as a car journalist, but in my entire lifetime. April 24; get excited!
All Photos: David Tracy
It is now the 24th and I would like my mind blown please
Is this the actual spirit of an electric Scout? Can’t wait to see what it’s all about.
The cars with no insides aren’t convincing me the “$25k pickup that’s coming next year” isn’t vaporware, but I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong.
would have been far more interesting if they had been towed away.
If ‘Slate’ means something like the vehicle is a blank slate then this could be interesting.
If the basic truck is just single motor, crap basic interior and small-ish battery they could hit $25k (especially if they’re quoting the price after incentives).
They can then offer post-delivery upgrades. Bigger / more motors, better seats (with a bench or buckets with a console), upgraded interior materials, infotainment, etc.
All can be stocked, sold and delivered by Amazon to your home in a day or two.
We’ll see on the 24th, but this could be a very cool thing. The reveal could also be a huge letdown.
25K for a 2 door 2 seat truck with likely no range and little warranty support outside of returning it to an Amazon reseller I suppose doe snot seem like that great of a deal. at least so far. This seems a lot like the Elio 2 seater 3 wheeler that was supposed to give us 100MPG and cost just 5K a few decades back.
Elio was always a scam. Bezos really has no reason to scam.
Also, Elio wasn’t offering a thing people wanted.
I wanted it. Simple 2 seater getting crazy Fuel economy for motorcycle prices seemed like a great idea if it were true.
This thing not having a drive train, and an ISH price point smacks mightily of the 40K Silverado and Cyberdumpster. But with some very Tucker like smoke and mirrors.
In theory, I would have wanted an Elio.
In a reality crowded with 5000+ pound bloatmobiles that can’t see an Elio over their front hood unless it’s thirty feet away, I wouldn’t have purchased one.
wow it’s like you didn’t read the article or are shilling for some other thing
Go back, read, the delete your writings in shame
lol no it doesn’t, please stop posting
It does, please stop trolling
it’s unusual for someone to post as much as you and miss the point, so you’ve got to be just trolling. Nothing about this is anything like the Elio. Nothing. “It’s got wheels!” Yeah, fur of them, so not even that. But please keep typing for our amusement
The hatchback looks like e the new Rivian….. LADA lines…
I really hope its a normal size. Its my main pet peeve with every other 4×4 or truck on the market. Even the small ones are too long and tall.