“Non-gearheads” now have the possibility to design their very own automobiles.
Final month, a picture appeared on Reddit of an unidentifiable small truck in a parking zone in Los Angeles. The sighting was first famous by Carscoops simply after TechCrunch reported that Jeff Bezos was making an “reasonably priced” car by 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 automobile.
Now, the corporate is prepared for reservations, and personalization is vital. Every little thing is customizable, from the outside look to the colour to the inside knobs.
“We predict everybody ought to have the ability to personalize their automobile,” the web site says. “However automobiles aren’t constructed to be personalized 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 worth begins within the “mid 20s,” although will probably be nearer to $20,000 (after federal EV tax credit). The one-cab electrical truck is about to be delivered to clients in late 2026. The corporate relies 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 in relation to secure, dependable, reasonably priced transportation; there simply actually aren’t many options for them,” CEO Chris Barman instructed Enterprise Insider forward of the official unveiling.
Associated: The ‘Secretive’ Electrical Automobile Reasonably priced Truck Was Simply Noticed in Los Angeles
A method the corporate is conserving it reasonably priced is thru its customization choices. For instance, the vans are wrapped, not painted, and could be modified at a buyer’s whim.
“With different automobiles, you decide your coloration if you purchase it, and that is it,” the web site says. “With a Slate, you may decide your coloration at any time when—and alter it at any time when. It is the primary car of its variety designed to be simply wrapped.”
Wrap kits will begin round $500, in accordance with the corporate. (Although conserving it the easy grey—as per the Reddit reveal—will nonetheless stand out.)
What is that this automobile?
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Amazon founder Bezos, Mark Walter (Los Angeles Dodgers majority proprietor and CEO of Guggenheim Companions), and investor Thomas Tull have helped the brand new automobile firm elevate not less than $111 million, per TechCrunch.
NBC experiences that, in accordance with a doc filed with the Securities and Trade Fee, Melinda Lewison, the pinnacle of Bezos’ household workplace, is the brand new Slate Auto director.
