The Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Automotive says it may promote an American-made electrical car pickup truck for about half of the typical transaction worth within the U.S.
Slate’s pitch is hold the car so simple as potential to save lots of on manufacturing prices, after which let house owners add on and customise the truck nonetheless they need.
The Slate Truck is compact — two doorways and two seats in its most simple kind. It’s spare — in order for you an infotainment system, it’s a must to add that your self. And, you may. The car is sort of endlessly customizable.
Slate plans to promote greater than 100 equipment for its truck, together with a equipment that may convert it to a 5-seat SUV. However Slate additionally desires to make the truck “open supply,” which means anybody may make equipment for the pickup.
To this point, greater than 100,000 folks have made reservations for Slate’s small barebones truck.
Worth has been Slate’s large promoting level. Almost half of American automobile buyers say the highest disadvantage to EVs is sticker worth, in accordance with a Might 2025 survey by J.D. Energy. In the meantime, President Donald Trump has been levying tariffs on overseas automakers and slashed federal incentives for EVs, making it tougher for customers to purchase EVs.
Earlier in 2025, the corporate marketed that its truck would begin beneath $20,000 with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit score. It then wiped that language from its web site across the time the Trump Administration issued an govt order in July that started the rollback of EV incentives.
The corporate says the case for its low-cost truck will stay robust after federal EV tax credit expire in September.
The query for Slate is whether or not the car continues to be compelling at round $27,000 or $28,000 as it will be round $20,000. There is just one car in america transacting beneath $20,000 — the Mitsubishi Mirage. However beneath $30,000 there are about 20 fashions, in accordance with Cox Automotive. A kind of is the Ford Maverick, which comes with both a straight inside combustion engine or a hybrid powertrain, and has lots of the options the Slate lacks.
“Hastily, that worth level simply does not look very aggressive anymore,” mentioned Market Analysis Telemetry Vice President Sam Abuelsamid, including that Slate may decrease its worth to enchantment to customers. “However now you begin to eat into that revenue margin.”
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