Plywood 4x8 fit / loaded into Slate truck bed (video)

[Driven5]

They're just having a little fun making a few silly video answers to some customer questions. It's really quite refreshing.

 

[Sandman614]

They're just having a little fun making a few silly video answers to some customer questions. It's really quite refreshing.

yeah but for some reason other people with nothing better to do have to turn every thread in to "bUt MuH MaVErICk!!!!!!!" or "DID THEY CHECK THEIR LOCAL AND STATE LAWS BEFORE DRIVING SLIGHTLY OUT OF FRAME IN A CLOSED COURSE PARKING LOT?!?!?!"

must be a sad life. the rest of us appreciate this kind of content and are excited the company does stuff like this.

 

[KingCarlosXIII]

As someone who currently has a Maverick. Yes I haul plywood, lumber, yard waste, etc. It's a bed. Contrary to popular belief it just needs to be...a bed. Maverick was the darling of the reasonable sized truck community for the past 5 years, and they came up with some really exciting solutions in their design, but I'm very excited by Slate. I feel like as someone who drove a 93' Ranger 2-door as his first vehicle, Slate is what those small trucks of the 80's and 90's should have naturally evolved into had it not been for the big three pushing bigger and more expensive trucks that only get 5 miles to the gallon.

 

[E90400K]

My current pickup has a 5' 6" bed. The tailgate has two open positions (like the MuH MaVErICk!!!!!!! has), adjustable by moving the tailgate cables to the mid-position pins. The bed also has slots built into the bed walls that can hold either 2x4 or 2x6 boards to elevate any 4x8 sheet material above the wheel wells. My '87 Ranger STX with a 7' bed had slots in the bed walls for the same purpose. None of this is new for small and mid-sized pickups. The 14-second video was pointless, especially after Slate posted months ago 4x8 sheet sitting in the bed elevated above the wheel wells and providing the bed measurements at the time of reveal.

 

[Driven5]

The 14-second video was pointless, especially after Slate posted months ago 4x8 sheet sitting in the bed elevated above the wheel wells and providing the bed measurements at the time of reveal.

This was hardly more 'pointless' from a technical standpoint than the donuts video, but that doesn't mean they aren't providing value.

The rendering from Slate with the levitating 4x8's did nothing to show how it would be supported. They could do the lumber slots, hopefully with equal height tailgate setting, but they also had talked in one interview about looking at options to get 4' between the wheel wells for it to lay flat on the deck. Until whichever way they go is public knowledge though, marketing can't actually show it. But marketing to the general public is less about technical specification and more about customer engagement, and doubly so for startups.

The renders are getting stale, the roadshow pics and videos are getting a bit repetitive, and factory/production progress is inherently slow. So if you were in charge of marketing and couldn't show anything that isn't already public knowledge, rather than just casting stones, what less 'pointless' way would you engage potential customers than these tongue-firmly-in-cheek videos?

 

[cadblu]

The renders are getting stale, the roadshow pics and videos are getting a bit repetitive, and factory/production progress is inherently slow. So if you were in charge of marketing and couldn't show anything that isn't already public knowledge, rather than just casting stones, what less 'pointless' way would you engage potential customers than these tongue-firmly-in-cheek videos?

The way I see it, Slate's low budget marketing is consistent with the brand's fast, scrappy, and frugal mission. So, if someone on staff volunteered to share a 17 second video using his iPhone, it's kind of doing the job. It got us to talk about it. And to keep our interest level slightly above zero while we wait another year plus to see something tangible. There's probably not much news to talk about other than crank out some more lame videos. We knew about the plywood carry over 6 months ago. So if there's nothing new to talk about, just rehash the same old news. Remember it might still be "news" to new members and people just hearing about Slate for the first time.

What would really build excitement and discussion is if Slate could present it's "industry leading" warranty. Next, announce some firm pricing on the base truck. $24,990. Done! Announce pricing on the big options like the ER battery, Cargo Kit, SUV kit, and Fastback kit. Show us a rendering of the audio equipment, head unit, speakers, and specs like watts, frequency range, THD, etc. This will allow us to start planning our DIY buildout on day 1. At the same time, it will ensure we reserve enough money in the budget to customize the "affordable" truck we want to drive. Once you can assign a dollar value to each option, it will lock in our emotions of what we want vs. what we can afford.

 

[sodamo]

At this point those little video do serve a purpose, just a low cost way to continue interest.

 

[atx_ev]

As someone who currently has a Maverick. Yes I haul plywood, lumber, yard waste, etc. It's a bed. Contrary to popular belief it just needs to be...a bed. Maverick was the darling of the reasonable sized truck community for the past 5 years, and they came up with some really exciting solutions in their design, but I'm very excited by Slate. I feel like as someone who drove a 93' Ranger 2-door as his first vehicle, Slate is what those small trucks of the 80's and 90's should have naturally evolved into had it not been for the big three pushing bigger and more expensive trucks that only get 5 miles to the gallon.

to be fair that is because the govt started putting in CAFE standards requiring higher and higher gas mileage. Larger trucks were exempt.

 

[KevinRS]

The way I see it, Slate's low budget marketing is consistent with the brand's fast, scrappy, and frugal mission. So, if someone on staff volunteered to share a 17 second video using his iPhone, it's kind of doing the job. It got us to talk about it. And to keep our interest level slightly above zero while we wait another year plus to see something tangible. There's probably not much news to talk about other than crank out some more lame videos. We knew about the plywood carry over 6 months ago. So if there's nothing new to talk about, just rehash the same old news. Remember it might still be "news" to new members and people just hearing about Slate for the first time.

What would really build excitement and discussion is if Slate could present it's "industry leading" warranty. Next, announce some firm pricing on the base truck. $24,990. Done! Announce pricing on the big options like the ER battery, Cargo Kit, SUV kit, and Fastback kit. Show us a rendering of the audio equipment, head unit, speakers, and specs like watts, frequency range, THD, etc. This will allow us to start planning our DIY buildout on day 1. At the same time, it will ensure we reserve enough money in the budget to customize the "affordable" truck we want to drive. Once you can assign a dollar value to each option, it will lock in our emotions of what we want vs. what we can afford.

Most of that stuff is planned to be released early next year, firmer pricing, accessory pricing, etc. Audio equipment will probably be mostly 3rd party, they may have some speakers rebranded as Slate, but specs are going to be completely up to what you choose. Probably some of the audio companies will put together packages to sell to Slate owners.