SLATE Truck Debuts as Modular Pickup & SUV

[PungoteagueDave]

My comment was regarding the Northern Mexican towns. Many countries in the world find that offensive. Saying that area is basically US. Or a border town belongs to the other country.

Truth and reality. Mexicali and many Canadian factory towns don’t exist without U.S. proximity. 90% of Canadians live with 100 miles of the U.S. Political correctness doesn’t play with me. I was instrumental in taking Walmart to their first 12 Mexican locations, financed development all along the border inside Mexico, from Matamoros to Tijuana, and have more recently motorcycled across every border checkpoint except one between Mexico and the U.S., most multiple times. I developed three factory outlet centers in Mexico, two in Canada, and over a dozen in the U.S., so understand cross-border relationships and economics as well as anyone, now teach it as a retirement gig at the graduate level. After retiring, I recently rode from Aguas Caliente to the Guatemalan border while motorcycling from Deadhorse Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina. All this sovereignty sensitivity is off-putting and ignores the reality of economic dependency. Who cares about giving offense at recognizing the reality that Canada and Mexico both free-ride the U.S. in defense and technology while undercutting our farming, energy and labor markets? Only those who are professional diplomats. Homies on the ground just pass another cervesa and tell you how to avoid running afoul of the local narcos. Ask me how I know, after finding several bodies on the road down into Copper Canyon…

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[devdrone6]

If Slate, Tesla can produce vehicles for cheap in the USA then other companies need to figure out how. I am not saying all components need to be from here, but this manufacturing has to come back to the USA. I have seen it go out of the US since writing high school papers about it in the eighties/nineties and no politician has done anything about it. I am willing to pay a bit more for US manufactured items, but the quality needs to be there. There was a time where the price reflected the quality, I am not sure we can say that anymore in most cases.

Back to the slate - mine is showing early 2027 delivery. Need to see this thing in person though before that.

 

[Mini2nut]

They missed the boat by not offering an AWD version for the 4-season states.

 

[YDR37]

Demand seems to be high with 180k reservations. It will be interesting to see the conversion rate.

A "reservation" was just $50, fully refundable. Obviously that's not much of a commitment, so I wouldn't expect all 180,000 reservation holders to follow through.

But as of today, Slate started taking "preorders", which are $300 and non-refundable (or only $250 if you previously paid for a reservation, but still non-refundable). So that actually is a commitment.

Slate claims they got 10,000+ committed preorders within a few hours of opening the books. That seems like a decent start.

 

[Mini2nut]

Although it's at a higher price point I would choose the upcoming Telo "Kei style" pickup over the Slate. The packaging efficiency is next level. They have around 13k reservations. Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning Is one of the financial backers.

https://www.telotrucks.com/

 

[YDR37]

They missed the boat by not offering an AWD version for the 4-season states.

Slate reps have indicated that AWD is coming.

 

[YDR37]

Although it's at a higher price point I would choose the upcoming Telo "Kei style" pickup over the Slate. The packaging efficiency is next level.

A Ford Maverick is 199.8 inches long. Some people think that it is kind of small for a pickup.

A Slate is 174.6 inches long. So it's 25.2 inches shorter than a Maverick, or a bit more than two feet. Is that small, or what?

But a Telo is only 152 inches -- that's 47.8 inches shorter than a Maverick, or just about 4 feet. Yet the Telo has a longer bed than a Maverick (5.0 vs 4.5 feet). And unlike the Slate, the Telo has also has four doors and seats five.

It gets crazier. The Telo has a midgate, and with the midgate open, it can supposedly haul 4x8 plywood sheets -- with the tailgate up. Or you can add a third row of seats and carry eight passengers. In a vehicle that is 4 feet shorter than a Maverick.

The Telo will cost significantly more than a Maverick or Slate, but it could be an amazing urban vehicle.

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