Jeff Bezos is backing an American EV startup, Slate Auto. The new company reportedly wants to deliver something Tesla hasn’t yet, an affordable $25,000 EV. The brand has been experiencing a whirlwind rollout. Slate Auto’s existence was reported less than two weeks ago. But we’ve already seen at least a design shell of the vehicle in the wild. Slate Auto has confirmed a full reveal for April 24, 2025. And it may not be just a pickup. There may be two more EVs on the way.
Key Takeaways
- Slate Auto is reportedly building a $25,000 EV
- Its whirlwind reveal continued with two new EV concepts
- One is a boxy SUV with a rear-mounted spare tire
- The other, more of a hatchback, looks like a Rivian R3
- The brand launches its first vehicle on April 24, 2025
Slate Auto May Have Two More Vehicles Coming
Slate Auto has also apparently teased two more variants of its vehicle in public in California. One is a boxy SUV with what appears to be a rear-mounted spare tire. The other vehicle seems to be a crossover coupe or hatchback and bears some resemblance to the Rivian R3. Both vehicles appear to share substantial components and body panels with the pickup prototype that has already been spotted.
The Slate Auto Teasers Were Weird, Right?
Yes. Both new Slate vehicles had wraps promoting bizarre fake businesses. The SUV advertised a third-party service to drive babies around and help them fall asleep. The vehicle had several infant car seats mounted to the roof rack. The more hatchback-like vehicle advertised a separate business for cats. Besides gathering attention with sheer weirdness, the promos may tell us something about the Slate Auto vehicles.
Infant car seats can’t be used in the front seat. So, unless Slate Auto went truly macabre with its promotion, that may indicate the SUV variant has at least a second row of seats inside. The roof racks and hood/side-mounted gear preview what may be Ford Bronco-like accessories and customization options. Both vehicles are wrapped, suggesting that Slate intends to offer this service in-house as well (an interesting choice for both private and potential fleet customers).
TopSpeed’s Take
There are reasons to be cautious about Slate Auto. The automotive industry is brutal, especially for electric vehicles (EVs). Tesla is very much the outlier. Several promising EV truck startups have failed. Even well-financed, “established” startups like Rivian and Lucid Motors still struggle with scaling up production and generating internal cash flow. Manufacturers have been struggling to offer $25,000 combustion cars on existing platforms, let alone EVs. And tariffs will only make things more expensive throughout the entire supply chain.
That said, the Slate concept seems sound. The designs look promising. And the EV marketplace could use more versatile, genuinely affordable vehicles. We’re excited to see what Slate Auto has to offer later this week.
Read the full article here
