SLATE EXPECTATIONS

This radical new pickup is set to become one of the most affordable vehicles in the U.S. market.

- Greg Fink

IN THE UNITED STATES, affordable automobiles are right there with the red wolf, California condor, and black-footed ferret on the endangered-species list.

Just two dozen of the hundreds of new car, truck, van, and SUV models for 2025 sticker for less than $27,000. Not one is a pickup or an electric vehicle. Upstart automaker Slate aims to fill those voids with its Truck, a battery-powered pickup boasting a starting price that we estimate will be around $25,000.

With failure rates for EV startups rivaling those of the romantic relationships coming out of the reality show Love Island USA, the odds are stacked against Slate. Don't write off the fledgling brand just yet, though. Unlike nascent EV automakers that have gone belly-up, Slate has more than just a concept of a plan to bring its vehicle to market. Based in Troy, Michigan, Slate began in 2022 as a project within Re:Build Manufacturing, a conglomerate co-founded by Jeff Wilke, former CEO of Amazon's worldwide consumer business. It has $700 million in backing raised over two seed rounds. Supporters include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's investment firm Bezos Expeditions, global investment company General Catalyst, and multinational holding company TWG Global.

Slate has a manufacturing plan in place too. The company is in the process of building out a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana, with production set to kick off in the latter half of 2026 and deliveries promised shortly thereafter. If all goes to plan, the 1.4-million-square-foot factory will eventually have the capacity to build 150,000 Trucks per year.

Like Lucid, Rivian, and Tesla, Slate is eschewing a dealership model in favor of direct sales. Unlike those three, the brand is shunning storefronts entirely, instead partnering with a proven dealer chain for delivery and an established national auto-shop group as a service partner.