“Non-gearheads” now have the possibility to design their very own vehicles.
Final month, a picture appeared on Reddit of an unidentifiable small truck in a car parking zone in Los Angeles. The sighting was first famous by Carscoops simply after TechCrunch reported that Jeff Bezos was making an “reasonably priced” automobile via a “secretive EV startup” known as Slate Auto.
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Web sleuths rapidly put collectively (and TechCrunch confirmed) that the truck within the Reddit picture was the precise Slate Auto idea automotive.
Now, the corporate is prepared for reservations, and personalization is essential. Every little thing is customizable, from the outside look to the colour to the inside knobs.
“We expect everybody ought to have the ability to personalize their automotive,” the web site says. “However autos aren’t constructed to be custom-made by non-gearheads (we love you, gearheads). So, we modified that.”
Supplied by Slate Auto
In a video asserting the brand new “radically easy, radically reasonably priced Slate truck” on X, CEO Chris Barman mentioned the value begins within the “mid 20s,” although it is going to be nearer to $20,000 (after federal EV tax credit). The only-cab electrical truck is about to be delivered to prospects in late 2026. The corporate is predicated in Troy, Michigan.
The folks spoke. We constructed. Meet the radically easy, radically reasonably priced Slate. Reserve yours at https://t.co/Y5RkOIFCRo pic.twitter.com/uvSZVpdkWv
— Slate Auto (@slateauto) April 25, 2025
“There is a huge inhabitants of individuals on the market on the subject of protected, dependable, reasonably priced transportation; there simply actually aren’t many options for them,” CEO Chris Barman informed Enterprise Insider forward of the official unveiling.
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A technique the corporate is maintaining it reasonably priced is thru its customization choices. For instance, the vehicles are wrapped, not painted, and may be modified at a buyer’s whim.
“With different vehicles, you choose your colour if you purchase it, and that is it,” the web site says. “With a Slate, you’ll be able to choose your colour each time—and alter it each time. It is the primary automobile of its form designed to be simply wrapped.”
Wrap kits will begin round $500, in line with the corporate. (Although maintaining it the straightforward grey—as per the Reddit reveal—will nonetheless stand out.)
What is that this automotive?byu/discostranger09 inwhatisthiscar
Amazon founder Bezos, Mark Walter (Los Angeles Dodgers majority proprietor and CEO of Guggenheim Companions), and investor Thomas Tull have helped the brand new automotive firm increase no less than $111 million, per TechCrunch.
NBC stories that, in line with a doc filed with the Securities and Change Fee, Melinda Lewison, the top of Bezos’ household workplace, is the brand new Slate Auto director.
