Over the past few weeks, there’s been some hype around Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto and its plan to build a $25,000 electric pickup truck in America. While few details have been released around this vehicle so far, a Reddit user spotted a strange small pickup truck on American soil, and it doesn’t quite look like anything we’ve seen so far.
Posted to the r/whatisthiscar subreddit by user discostranger09, this compact-looking pickup truck on a flat bed drew other users’ attention. The original poster added a bit of context to the photo in the comment section, responding to a question about where this vehicle was spotted with:
South of Los Angeles. To add some more context, there were 2 men filming/taking pictures as well. Suggesting that whatever it was, it was “special.” I’m also 100 percent positive that it’s an EV. Never heard an ignition or exhaust note when they pulled it off the flat bed.
You know what startup has a presence in Los Angeles? Slate Auto. Could this be the cheap, reportedly $25,000 electric pickup truck that Jeff Bezos is backing? It’s entirely possible, but let’s take a look at the evidence.
Despite being a completely undisguised vehicle, this pickup doesn’t quite seem to have an immediately identifiable styling language we can link with any automaker in North America. Instead, it’s an amalgamation of various elements. The arches are very Land Rover Defender, the front bumper has shades of Ford, the deep character line down the flank almost feels retro, and the simple headlights seem unusually utilitarian.
What is this car?byu/discostranger09 inwhatisthiscar
At the same time, the form factor seems about right for an entry-level model. It’s not some huge machine, it has a fairly small bed and a single cab, and hardware like the marker lights, door mirror, and what appear to be bolt-on fenders with external hardware appears to fit a low price point. They don’t necessarily look cheap, but they look like they’re designed to be cleverly inexpensive.
Keep in mind, Slate has stated that it wants to launch an electric two-seat truck next year, and a proof of concept is said to exist. With the form factor and location lining up, there’s definitely some plausibility here.
Whether this thing’s a Slate or something else, if it comes to market at a reasonable price and has decent specs, people are going to buy it. This is exactly the form factor fans of old Ford Rangers and Chevrolet S-10s have been craving, so let’s sit on this spy shot and see where it goes.
Update: TechCrunch reports that this is indeed exactly what we think it is. As the outlet wrote:
The truck pictured is, in fact, the one Slate Auto has been working on, according to a person with direct knowledge of Slate Auto’s vehicle design who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This person, whose identity is known to TechCrunch, said the truck is likely one of the concept vehicles the startup has created to show to potential investors — like the controlling owner of the LA Dodgers — at its design studio in Long Beach, California.
Well, I’ll be. If this is just our first glimpse at the project, the future of Slate Autos looks pretty exciting.
Top graphic credit: Reddit/discostranger09
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