“Non-gearheads” now have the prospect 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 “inexpensive” car by a “secretive EV startup” referred to as Slate Auto.
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Web sleuths shortly 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. All the things 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 autos 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 inexpensive 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 one-cab electrical truck is ready to be delivered to prospects in late 2026. The corporate is primarily based in Troy, Michigan.
The individuals spoke. We constructed. Meet the radically easy, radically inexpensive 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 with regards to secure, dependable, inexpensive 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 preserving it inexpensive 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 colour whenever you purchase it, and that is it,” the web site says. “With a Slate, you’ll be able to decide your colour at any time when—and alter it at any time when. It is the primary car of its form designed to be simply wrapped.”
Wrap kits will begin round $500, in line with the corporate. (Although preserving it the straightforward 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 increase a minimum of $111 million, per TechCrunch.
NBC reviews that, in line with a doc filed with the Securities and Alternate Fee, Melinda Lewison, the pinnacle of Bezos’ household workplace, is the brand new Slate Auto director.
