Over the past few weeks, there’s been some hype around Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto and its plan to build a $25,000 electric pickup truck in America. While few details have been released around this vehicle so far, a Reddit user spotted a strange small pickup truck on American soil, and it doesn’t quite look like anything we’ve seen so far.
Posted to the r/whatisthiscar subreddit by user discostranger09, this compact-looking pickup truck on a flat bed drew other users’ attention. The original poster added a bit of context to the photo in the comment section, responding to a question about where this vehicle was spotted with:
South of Los Angeles. To add some more context, there were 2 men filming/taking pictures as well. Suggesting that whatever it was, it was “special.” I’m also 100 percent positive that it’s an EV. Never heard an ignition or exhaust note when they pulled it off the flat bed.
You know what startup has a presence in Los Angeles? Slate Auto. Could this be the cheap, reportedly $25,000 electric pickup truck that Jeff Bezos is backing? It’s entirely possible, but let’s take a look at the evidence.
Despite being a completely undisguised vehicle, this pickup doesn’t quite seem to have an immediately identifiable styling language we can link with any automaker in North America. Instead, it’s an amalgamation of various elements. The arches are very Land Rover Defender, the front bumper has shades of Ford, the deep character line down the flank almost feels retro, and the simple headlights seem unusually utilitarian.
At the same time, the form factor seems about right for an entry-level model. It’s not some huge machine, it has a fairly small bed and a single cab, and hardware like the marker lights, door mirror, and what appear to be bolt-on fenders with external hardware appears to fit a low price point. They don’t necessarily look cheap, but they look like they’re designed to be cleverly inexpensive.
Keep in mind, Slate has stated that it wants to launch an electric two-seat truck next year, and a proof of concept is said to exist. With the form factor and location lining up, there’s definitely some plausibility here.
Whether this thing’s a Slate or something else, if it comes to market at a reasonable price and has decent specs, people are going to buy it. This is exactly the form factor fans of old Ford Rangers and Chevrolet S-10s have been craving, so let’s sit on this spy shot and see where it goes.
Update: TechCrunch reports that this is indeed exactly what we think it is. As the outlet wrote:
The truck pictured is, in fact, the one Slate Auto has been working on, according to a person with direct knowledge of Slate Auto’s vehicle design who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This person, whose identity is known to TechCrunch, said the truck is likely one of the concept vehicles the startup has created to show to potential investors — like the controlling owner of the LA Dodgers — at its design studio in Long Beach, California.
Well, I’ll be. If this is just our first glimpse at the project, the future of Slate Autos looks pretty exciting.
Top graphic credit: Reddit/discostranger09
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As so many people commented on the bed size being a concern, after a bit of pixel counting I think it’s going to be 5’6″ long.
(Assuming that the tow truck is using standard 22.5″ sized rims that is. Overall length being 16’2″ and height 7’1″ which seems surprisingly tall IMO so take all this with a grain of salt)
make a van
I don’t see this as a hit, even though I like it.
The problem is that cars cars and trucks cost too much. $25k is cheap for an EV pickup, if they can hit that price point. But $25k is about right for a 5 year old full sized truck. I expect by the time this is in full production, a 4-5 year old Lightning with reasonable miles will be around the same price
Thing about a Lightning is “what if” What if I get in an accident, the lightning is bigger. What if I actually make friends that want to go along with me. What if I end up with a family that needs a child seat. What if…
And the operating cost of a full sized EV truck and a compact one are basically the same (well within a couple bucks).
Now if this thing is cheap enough, I could see buying it as a pickup/commuter instead of a used Lightning to have a warranty etc. But if it is cheap, where is the money coming from to pay for the development of the vehicle?
Jeff Bezos.
Also, I think there will be a huge fleet market for this vehicle. The Colorado/Canyon are now much larger and taller than they used to be, and a lot of service industries (think utilities, pest control, etc) want a pickup truck with car-like hip point.
I think the better fleet option would be what I would nickname EV200. A NV200 with a Leaf powertrain. I see almost all the smaller contractors using vans now. And that market is wide open since everyone abandoned it a couple years ago in the states.
A utility van version of this thing would be a lot easier to sell to fleets, I think.
Yeah, but Bezos can do anything he wants. As long as he doesn’t get a cat. He’s got a rocket shaped like a Willy, he’s got a lair near a volcano, he’s got more money than he needs, he lives in Seattle. He’s a cat way from holding the world ransom for…
One MILLION Dollars..
Nissan did build an NV with the Leaf powertrain!
Singular or more than one? Something like that today would sell well for fleets.
Tons. Just not in the US. I’ve seen them tootling around Paris with various delivery/business logos on them.
It even outlived the regular Nissan NV! In Europe, it has been replaced by a rebadged Renault Kangoo (including an EV variant).
Given the poor sales of all the compact vans in the US — and the subsequent disappearance of everything smaller than a Sprinter — I wouldn’t expect us to get any. Fleets didn’t want them, and small businesses certainly didn’t. Tax incentives go the other way.
Yeah, not in the US, but in Europe, where people seem to be more sane with automotive purchase decisions. This Slate thing is supposed to be marketed for the American Market.
There is even an EV Nissan NV200 single-cab flatbed pickup. Copenhagen for one uses them in their municipal fleet and surely others do as well. Basically it’s the NV you are used to with a wall behind the front doors and then an aluminum drop side bed on the back and redone as an EV. Very cool.
Sounds like someone thought about truck functionality when they designed it rather than whatever drives truck design in the USA
If this has a true 200+ mile range, 6 foot plus bed, and comes in at the price of a base Maverick this can be the spiritual replacement for the compact Mazda B2000/2200, Mitsu Mighty Max/Ram D50, Ford Courier, Chevy LUV, Isuzu Pup, etc. I dailied a Mazda B2200 for about four years and it did everything I needed.
I know a restomod Bronco II with the roof chopped off when I see one
My brain associates Slate exclusively with the online publication. Trying to figure out what THAT Slate’s truck would be like.
Like this, but with lots of advice columns built in.
Wait till you find out it comes in Sandstone metallic.
Proportions of a Scout II, front end of a Bronco Sport, and lines of a Jeep J10.
My 1st car was a ’91 Toyota pickup that looked just like that, and I loved it dearly. Same color and everything. So to say I’d consider buying one of these is definitely on the table, and their availability coincides with the kids going out of the house so I won’t need back seats quite so much any more.
I am seeing current Defender crossed with first-gen Ranger, in a good way.
The small Ranger and not the trim package on the even older, bigger trucks.
Just need to have at least a 6′ bed, and the interior large enough for someone over 6′ tall. I’ve always had single cab pickups. My 98 and current 18 F150 had had plenty of room behind the seat for things. If you have more than that, you put it in the bed.
Looking forward to this launching in 5-10 years at $40k+
Prove me wrong
This is the correct take
$40K ten years from now is $25K today, so no lies have been told!
Years ago somebody made a kickstarter for what was essentially a very basic phone. It was pitched as something that could be used instead of a smartphone that would allow you to call and text without constantly being overwhelmed by everything that comes with using a smartphone. Initially many loved the idea. The problem was everyone had thier one thing. One feature it needed to have for them to be interested and they were all different. Some people said they wanted it to be able to email, others wanted a camera, others wanted music, ect… If you added them all back in you might as well just have a smartphone. I think about this a lot when I hear people clamoring for very basic vehicles is everyone has thier one thing. I can see it already in the comments. Some want range, or an extended cab, or xyz feature. I predict this will be the downfall of this.
Once we have had it it is hard to give it up.
The logical conclusion of this is how we ended up with the current lux trucks.
It’s fine to have limited features if it’s affordable. And this being electric I just don’t see that happening.
I wonder if part of the cost savings is to source parts from an existing product, and/or they’re planning on partnering with Ford for the manufacturing.
Borrowing Bronco Sport front end sheet metal could provide some significant cost savings. Ditto for interior pieces. Off the shelf pieces would be a smart way to go.
I recall at one time Rivian and Ford had some sort of partnership, and Rivian made/makes vans for Amazon. Maybe there’s some deeper Bezos/ Ford connection here we don’t know about yet.
I’d love me a tiny pickup, but fact is my current SUV (2005 Acura MDX) and small utility trailer more than meet my needs.
Trailering in the US needs to be more of a thing. I have contacts in Denmark and nearly every car there as a hitch, even tiny city cars like Smart. You see small cars pulling small trailers all the time and it’s a completely normal thing.
When I got my 914/6 it had a tow hitch. I think it was for carrying a set of race tires to the track. Can’t imagine what else it might of been used for.
I got a new Civic Hybrid hatch and there is a small difference such that the non-hybrid hatch hitch won’t fit, and there isn’t one available (yet?). I’ll put one on as soon as one is. I only use one for a bike rack, but I switched from roof rack to hitch rack with the last car and I’ll never go back to roof again.
Heh. Last year my wife and I decided to replace her 2005 MDX with something newer (a 2019 MDX as it turned out), and my best friend needed a winter beater so we sold it to him. A couple months later he’s talking to me about how he needs a 4WD Suburban (he adores mine) for dirt roading, hauling, and towing, and occasional high passenger count, and my reaction was a bit incredulous to say the least. Understand this is a guy who never does any hairy offroading, maybe a little softroading on fire roads and winter driving at worst and the AWD on the MDX is more than adequate to the task. Likewise, he doesn’t do any heavy hauling or towing, so laying the seats down in the MDX and buying a small utility trailer (the MDX will handle 4,500 lbs) will haul anything he needs to haul; he can have anything else delivered. The MDX has third row seating so it will take seven people although I wouldn’t recommend anything more than an hour drive for any unfortunate adults in the third row. After some initial resistance he finally came around and admitted that it might just be more of wanting the cool toy than having an actual need. The 2005 MDX with AWD plus a cheap but decent utility trailer is fully capable of doing more than enough for most people.
The MDX is a good package, big enough without being leviathan sized with capable AWD and good (if peaky) power. Agree the third row is for occasional use only.
I like it. I probably wouldn’t fit in the standard cab because I’m a tall freak, but an extended cab would rule! If they make it a four door I’ll be much less interested. I would have bought a Maverick by now if they had an extended cab version with a bit more bed capacity.
This looks just like a UTE version of the Bronco Sport, and I’m here for it. Well, not actually though, as I do actually need four seats for the family, but it will be interesting to see where this goes.
When minitrucks first became popular in the US in the early ’70s, the standard config was a 6′ bed and a single cab. In 1977, the Datsun King Cab debuted and changed everything. The small cab extension provided about 10 cubic feet of in-cabin storage plus reclining seats that allowed people 6 feet tall to drive without an onboard chiropractor. The 6′ bed was so useful that I still see ancient minitrucks in use by gardeners, pool maintenance people, and the like.
I’m not sure why a single cab lacking in-vehicle storage plus a short bed would be particularly useful for commercial customers. What commercial gardening tools are best served by a frunk?
I imagine there are customers for “It’s just a modern electric VW Beetle for people with one friend and no posessions” but that seems like a limited market. I’d bet Slate has designs with extended cabs and longer beds for only a “slight” additional cost, but they’ll be running directly into Maverick buyers at that point.
Having just spent a week on the beach just north of San Diego…I think there’s quite a bit of space between the folks commuting on the motorcycles masquerading as e-bikes and the Ford Maverick for this thing to live.
Styling is somewhat reminiscent of the old nissan hardbody trucks. I like it.
I love me a Hardbody but see more Jeep Comanche in this.
While I can see the Comanche resemblance, my initial thought was that an R1T mated with a classic International Scout
If it’s cost/capability is acceptable and they can actually deliver them (like ford didn’t with maverick hybrid) I can see it selling. Seems like it would be a hit with municipal orgs and utilities if the service model was convincing, and would be a perfect commuter for suburban empty-nester or dinkwad types that “need” a pickup for garden center runs. Most likely the $25k number already assumes some tax incentive, and the range on the base battery will be unacceptably short, so the actual starting price will be 40k. Then it will be torpedo’d by tariffs and the fact that folks seem less inclined to spend money at present.
I like this thing way too much for it to be real. Even at 30k, which is what this thing will be at the very minimum by the time it would launch, I still like it.
While I appreciate a regular cab though, I have kids, so it’s not for me. That being said, there’s no way someone is developing this to only be a regular cab, I’m sure there will be an extended or crew version. Get me enough space to fit kids in the back (both will be in boosters within a few months, finally, and I don’t really care too much about leg room for children) and I’m willing to consider (someday).
Dang. I love it! I love slim design and have been so disappointed with the height and beefiness of so many recent truck concepts and releases. The TELO’s bed is way too tall, full size trucks are all too tall and beefy, and even midsized trucks are too vertical, with two exceptions: the jeep gladiator and the ineos quartermaster. The alpha ev concept looked the part, but appears to be vaporware. For this, I just hope the bed is long enough to fit a couple of dirt bikes, and that a frunk exists that can hold some gear
Yeah, Alpha has some great designs and keeps adding more to their website, but as a car manufacturer, seems to be all vaporware.
this could definitely replace the f150 lightnings my city’s works department has for no fuckin reason
I bet they have those Lightnings because some complained about the town not being eco-friendly enough.
It looks pretty low slung. I assume for aero efficiency given that it’s an EV. I note the left rear charge port ala Tesla. Also the short wheelbase looks ready for urban navigation which makes sense assuming a relatively short range. I can see some fleet sales for sure.
I think it looks great. And I like the idea behind it. But as others have stated, I can’t see it actually selling for $25k. The other big unknown is range. Will it crest 200 miles? Or are we in compliance car territory?
I could see it being attractive to fleets. Particularly places like college campuses, factories, power plants, etc. that want the benefits of an EV but also want a low price. I could see it as especially attractive in places with seasonal heat/cold extremes, where the competition could include a side by side. I know you can get those with heaters and AC but that’s extra $$$$, and I don’t see fleets wanting to check options boxes if they don’t have to.
I’m sure they could rack up some civilian sales, but I just can’t picture there being enough of them for it to turn much of a profit. And again, range is going to be a huge factor here. The Maverick works because it can be a small truck and a family crossover at the same time. That’s how people buy cars today, they want something that does it all. Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s I knew several people whose parents only had one vehicle big enough for the whole family. The other would be a compact car, a two seater car, or a small truck. I suspect that’s changed now.
lol $25k my ass.