New electric Amazon Pickup Truck.

[pentode]

The article I read said sub-$20k with a 150 mile range, manual everything, no radio and only one color - gray. If I were a new car buyer, it's at least more along the lines of what I'd be tempted by than most everything else out there. Not interested in giving Bezos any more money if he's behind it though.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

The article I read said sub-$20k with a 150 mile range, manual everything, no radio and only one color - gray. If I were a new car buyer, it's at least more along the lines of what I'd be tempted by than most everything else out there. Not interested in giving Bezos any more money if he's behind it though.

I didn't get the impression he was behind, more that he had invested in it. Along with a bunch of other VC.
As far as color, my understanding is that its made so its very easy to put a wrap on it.

 

[pentode]

I didn't get the impression he was behind, more that he had invested in it. Along with a bunch of other VC.
As far as color, my understanding is that its made so its very easy to put a wrap on it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for innovation, I'm just getting a little tired of our old billionaires, I'd like to see some new competition out there, especially in a tough field like automotive. If my memory from 12 hours ago is accurate, they'll be building it in Michigan which is great, and I think at least the spirit of it would be to source as many parts as possible in the USA, which would also be nice.

I saw the thing about wrapping them too; the article I read talked about how expensive it is to prep and paint cars. I think that's a great approach. Customize it if you like, enjoy the gray if you're a cheapskate like me. I think the simplicity of what they're proposing is much more like the pickups us old-timers grew up with than the 6-figure trucks the big three are trying to sell. Utilitarian. 150 miles range is plenty for my needs. I like things that are simple, good value for money and get the job done.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I heard abo ut it...but...whos the market?

Truck guys? (arent going to touch it)
Urban hipster guys? (maybe)
Suburb dwellers? (Doubt it, they wont buy something bare bones)
Farmers/ranchers? (no 4wd kills it for them)

Maybe small, local fleets?

I get the appeal...a cheap work truck. But you can find even cheaper, more useful work trucks all over CL or marketplace. The demographic this is aimed at seems like theyll just go buy a 2500 dollar 3rd gen somewhere to run to lowes with or haul brush.

 

[Roert42]

I heard abo ut it...but...whos the market?

Truck guys? (arent going to touch it)
Urban hipster guys? (maybe)
Suburb dwellers? (Doubt it, they wont buy something bare bones)
Farmers/ranchers? (no 4wd kills it for them)

Maybe small, local fleets?

I get the appeal...a cheap work truck. But you can find even cheaper, more useful work trucks all over CL or marketplace. The demographic this is aimed at seems like theyll just go buy a 2500 dollar 3rd gen somewhere to run to lowes with or haul brush.

What kind of rich farmers are you hanging out with that have 4WD money?

 

[97RangerXLT]

20k for an EV truck. think of what that means for Tesla, Rivian and the major brand EV fleet sales. granted, 150 miles for the base range is not overly great, but its half the price of the lowest end Tesla car, and pretty similar to the other manufacturers. This would be great for fleet use where you are in an urban area that the lower range will not affect. At the end of the day, you put it on the charger to be ready for the next day.

also just think.. If Slate offered that truck with just a 4 banger, not even a turbo'd 4 banger but similar to the duratech in the later Rangers before 2019, the cost or price of that truck would be under 15k new.

AJ

 

[97RangerXLT]

What kind of rich farmers are you hanging out with that have 4WD money?

This. my grandpa was a dairy farmer and cattle farmer for decades in Northern Wisconsin. none of the trucks he had for the farm or even his personal trucks were 4wd in the 50 plus years he was a farmer. When grandpa did have to replace a truck (or car) he got the base trim model, no fancy stuff and usually the smaller engine. (he bought an 83 diesel Ranger brand new with no ps, no pb, no a/c, and a 4spd manual and I think it had an AM/FM radio as the only luxury to replace his 74 F100) he lived in town and had to drive out to the farm in the country 7 or so miles every day, rain/ shine/ snow, and did so. if he needed something to go where you needed a 4x4, he grabbed a tractor. later on in the late 90s he did have a Kawasaki Mule which had 4wd

AJ.

 

[Snoranger]

I heard abo ut it...but...whos the market?

Truck guys? (arent going to touch it)
Urban hipster guys? (maybe)
Suburb dwellers? (Doubt it, they wont buy something bare bones)
Farmers/ranchers? (no 4wd kills it for them)

Maybe small, local fleets?

I get the appeal...a cheap work truck. But you can find even cheaper, more useful work trucks all over CL or marketplace. The demographic this is aimed at seems like theyll just go buy a 2500 dollar 3rd gen somewhere to run to lowes with or haul brush.

Every auto parts store that does deliveries.
You really don’t need a market when the price point is so low. People will buy it just because it’s the cheapest one available.



There are a LOT of people in the world who are afraid of buying a $4000+ car and it needing a lot of more right away. They don’t know how to do any repairs and might be able to do a minor service like an oil change. But they can take that $4K, that took them a year or more to save, and put it down on a $20K new car. They can spread that other $16K out over 3-4 years and not have to worry about paying for repairs.
A new car is peace of mind to someone who can’t turn a wrench. Now a days a simple repair on a newer car can cost a few grand. Parts aren’t cheap and labor is ridiculous.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Every auto parts store that does deliveries.
You really don’t need a market when the price point is so low. People will buy it just because it’s the cheapest one available.



There are a LOT of people in the world who are afraid of buying a $4000+ car and it needing a lot of more right away. They don’t know how to do any repairs and might be able to do a minor service like an oil change. But they can take that $4K, that took them a year or more to save, and put it down on a $20K new car. They can spread that other $16K out over 3-4 years and not have to worry about paying for repairs.
A new car is peace of mind to someone who can’t turn a wrench. Now a days a simple repair on a newer car can cost a few grand. Parts aren’t cheap and labor is ridiculous.

It did cost me 1100 bucks to get the range sensor changed in my superduty 2 weeks after i bought it...so yeah i can see the point there.

Autoparts stores and things along those lines i could see using them i suppose.

I just personally dont see it having any, or very little anyways mass market appeal. Maybe im wrong. If it had a more traditional truck like build and a gas engine possibly.

Either way....it reminds me of the littlt alibaba or whoever truck i seen some guy buy and "test" in a youtube video. Basically a golf cart thats street legal.

Thats the other thing though....hows it going to pass FMVSS standards? I imagine it would need atleast dual air bags, back up cam, and other stuff doesnt it? Or is it so small it gets around that stuff?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

What kind of rich farmers are you hanging out with that have 4WD money?

Every farmer i know usually has two...

One "work" truck (used to be 73-87 Chevy/GMC's were the norm, and dentside fords a close 2nd, now it seems to be 99-07 GM's basically absolute)

Then their other truck...usually a fully loaded Platnium/denali/high country 3/4 ton SRW crewcab diesel that might see 100 milea a year lol

 

[Snoranger]

I just personally dont see it having any, or very little anyways mass market appeal. Maybe im wrong. If it had a more traditional truck like build and a gas engine possibly.

This is why you can’t see the market. You want it to be your way. You love internal combustion engine powered vehicles. You have stated it a thousand times here that you will NEVER own an electric vehicle. Which is fine, you don’t have to.
Isn't freedom of choice great??
But there is a large segment of the population that doesn’t feel that way. Some of them want an electric vehicle and can’t afford a Tesla or Polestar. Some of them don’t care as long as it gets them from point A to B. Some of them have money to burn and will pay $25K to use it around town.

There’s a market for everything, you just need to find the right marketing strategy. Think about this… 1.5 million Pet Rocks have been sold. It’s a damn rock in a small cardboard box.

 

[Roert42]

Every farmer i know usually has two...

One "work" truck (used to be 73-87 Chevy/GMC's were the norm, and dentside fords a close 2nd, now it seems to be 99-07 GM's basically absolute)

Then their other truck...usually a fully loaded Platnium/denali/high country 3/4 ton SRW crewcab diesel that might see 100 milea a year lol

Most of them around here all have a similar setup.
Their “new” truck is a 20 year old stripper they bought at a fleet auction with roll up windows and no ac.

Just rarely see 4WD lol

 

[rusty ol ranger]

This is why you can’t see the market. You want it to be your way. You love internal combustion engine powered vehicles. You have stated it a thousand times here that you will NEVER own an electric vehicle. Which is fine, you don’t have to.
Isn't freedom of choice great??
But there is a large segment of the population that doesn’t feel that way. Some of them want an electric vehicle and can’t afford a Tesla or Polestar. Some of them don’t care as long as it gets them from point A to B. Some of them have money to burn and will pay $25K to use it around town.

There’s a market for everything, you just need to find the right marketing strategy. Think about this… 1.5 million Pet Rocks have been sold. It’s a damn rock in a small cardboard box.

We'll see.

EV sales figures kinda disagree with your statement though

 

[rubydist]

The market for it is the urban delivery guys who have been driving rwd single cab Rangers for the past 20 years since there is no reasonable replacement vehicle for that. I still see a bunch of those running around, although I do see them being replaced by Mavericks since its the only inexpensive pickup-type vehicle out there. This Slate would slide right into that space for everyone who drives less than 100 miles per day in their deliveries, which is a lot of them.

 

[Snoranger]

We'll see.

EV sales figures kinda disagree with your statement though

If they can actually sell them at the price they claim, they will sell a lot of them. They claim “under $20K”. The cheapest EV right now is the Nissan leaf at $29,xxx.
I paid $25K for one of my SxSs… and I can’t drive it on the street. It cost around $20K to rent a house out on the island for a month in the summer.