“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” automobile by means of a “secretive EV startup” referred to 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 part is customizable, from the outside look to the colour to the inside knobs.
“We expect everybody ought to be capable to personalize their automotive,” the web site says. “However autos aren’t constructed to be personalized by non-gearheads (we love you, gearheads). So, we modified that.”
Offered by Slate Auto
In a video asserting the brand new “radically easy, radically reasonably priced Slate truck” on X, CEO Chris Barman stated the worth begins within the “mid 20s,” although it is going to be nearer to $20,000 (after federal EV tax credit). The one-cab electrical truck is ready to be delivered to clients in late 2026. The corporate relies in Troy, Michigan.
The individuals 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 instructed Enterprise Insider forward of the official unveiling.
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A method the corporate is conserving it reasonably priced is thru its customization choices. For instance, the vehicles are wrapped, not painted, and could be modified at a buyer’s whim.
“With different automobiles, you choose your shade while you purchase it, and that is it,” the web site says. “With a Slate, you may choose your shade 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 response to the corporate. (Although conserving it the straightforward grey—as per the Reddit reveal—will nonetheless stand out.)
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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 automotive firm elevate no less than $111 million, per TechCrunch.
NBC stories that, in response to a doc filed with the Securities and Trade Fee, Melinda Lewison, the pinnacle of Bezos’ household workplace, is the brand new Slate Auto director.
