The Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Automotive says it could promote an American-made electrical car pickup truck for about half of the common transaction worth within the U.S.
Slate’s pitch is maintain the car so simple as doable to avoid wasting 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 elementary type. It’s spare — in order for you an infotainment system, you need 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 package that may convert it to a 5-seat SUV. However Slate additionally desires to make the truck “open supply,” that means anybody might make equipment for the pickup.
Up to now, greater than 100,000 individuals have made reservations for Slate’s small barebones truck.
Value has been Slate’s huge promoting level. Practically half of American automotive consumers say the highest downside to EVs is sticker worth, in keeping with a Could 2025 survey by J.D. Energy. In the meantime, President Donald Trump has been levying tariffs on international 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 under $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 government order in July that started the rollback of EV incentives.
The corporate says the case for its low cost truck will stay sturdy after federal EV tax credit expire in September.
The query for Slate is whether or not the car remains 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 under $20,000 — the Mitsubishi Mirage. However under $30,000 there are about 20 fashions, in keeping 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 most of the options the Slate lacks.
“Swiftly, that worth level simply would not look very aggressive anymore,” mentioned Market Analysis Telemetry Vice President Sam Abuelsamid, including that Slate might decrease its worth to attraction to customers. “However now you begin to eat into that revenue margin.”
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