Custom seat covers & steering wheel cover for Slate by Madeline Ronzoni (Happy Rugs)

[Tran]

Custom seat covers & steering wheel cover for Slate by Madeline Ronzoni (Happy Rugs). They should have had her make a custom bed rug also.

 

[Letas]

Seems that Slate is investing a bit of money in small creators to show how "customizable" this truck is.



Love the investment in the creators- assuming they are being well compensated- but I can't help but feel that these customizations aren't specific to Slate.... I could put a custom tailgate on any truck, or custom seat covers....

 

[SichuanHot]

This is just silly. First the useless wooden tailgate and now this. Where's the substance Slate? Not some superficial arts and crafts like this. Show us electrical diagrams and CAD files.

 

[E90400K]

This is just silly. First the useless wooden tailgate and now this. Where's the substance Slate? Not some superficial arts and crafts like this. Show us electrical diagrams and CAD files.

They have to feed the voracious appetite of the internet. They have nothing of substance to share, nor should they. IMO.

Agree, it is just silly.

 

[RedJoker]

This is just silly. First the useless wooden tailgate and now this. Where's the substance Slate? Not some superficial arts and crafts like this. Show us electrical diagrams and CAD files.

While I agree this is silly, I don't think that's a bad thing. Creating the aura of customization / modification / artistry only helps expand the audience, in my opinion. For instance, the nuts and bolts things that I'm interested in are not the same as the "arts and crafts" that my wife is interested in. If they only showed the attachment points and wiring diagrams to support all the different ways to build an audio system, my wife would just see that there's no radio.

Once the product gets closer to launch, I suspect we'll get more of both technical and "arts and crafts." Something for (almost) everyone....

 

[E90400K]

Next up, the Slate Truck interpretive dance video (16 seconds long).

 

[bloo]

Cute and silly is fine. But a steady diet of the stuff has me craving substance. Why not show us ground clearance, fluid capacities, 12-Volt fuse block showing what and where we can connect, !2V DC-DC ratings, skidpad Gs.

C'mon, Slate. You gave us frosting. Now how about some cake.

BTW... the headreasts should be wraparounds.

 

[Mac-Tyson]

Seems that Slate is investing a bit of money in small creators to show how "customizable" this truck is.



Love the investment in the creators- assuming they are being well compensated- but I can't help but feel that these customizations aren't specific to Slate.... I could put a custom tailgate on any truck, or custom seat covers....

You’re right but Slate is built around customization and will likely develop a community around it. This is just a taste of what people will do. If this is successful we are likely going to see some absolutely insane Slate Builds on Social Media and possibly on the roads which will help sell the truck. So giving the slate prototypes to creators and telling them to go nuts with it isn’t a bad decision to start help developing that community for the Truck.

 

[SichuanHot]

While I agree this is silly, I don't think that's a bad thing. Creating the aura of customization / modification / artistry only helps expand the audience, in my opinion. For instance, the nuts and bolts things that I'm interested in are not the same as the "arts and crafts" that my wife is interested in. If they only showed the attachment points and wiring diagrams to support all the different ways to build an audio system, my wife would just see that there's no radio.

Once the product gets closer to launch, I suspect we'll get more of both technical and "arts and crafts." Something for (almost) everyone....

It's not a bad thing at all, but when the only thing Slate marketing has been harping on is customization for most of their ads, it prompts an eye roll or two. There has to be a balance and so far there's not a single peep from the so called Slate University that should have the technical documentation for the DIY tinker crowd who'll actually end up getting the most use out of the barebones platform.

Like @Letas said, customizing the visual appearance of a car or truck isn't unique to Slate. Anyone can make a custom deerskin leather seat wrap for F150 Lightning or MachE. So far none of these "creator showcases" highlights anything unique about the Slate platform.

 

[AZFox]

Chris Barman says there are some people will want a workhorse and some who will want their vehicle to be a means of personal expression.

IMHO the Social Media crew doesn't have much of an idea what workhorse people want to see. This may be because they're "creatives", not people who ever actually use a pickup for workhorse tasks.

Hence the best workhorse example they can produce is a lame, eyeroll-inducing video of spraypainted plywood thrown into the bed without being strapped down or flagged.

Maybe this article provides some insight.

Johnson was candid: "Women look at vehicles differently than men." She points to the views of aesthetics and functionality of a vehicle as varying depending on who you ask. "I find a lot of times, even as much of a gearhead as I am, when I sit in the car with one of my male colleagues, I'm looking at things differently. I'm looking at them from a mother perspective or stepmother perspective. Or, we just have different priorities when we get in the car."​

​

She can point to specific bits of the Slate model that were directly influenced by her personal experiences. "We have a very low console, and we created a really nice, big open space to accommodate a handbag. It's a nice place to put a purse that you've invested a few dollars into. You care about it. You want to keep it secure, but you also want to make sure that it stays clean. This is a thing that women know and talk about so we have this open tray, which also works for a computer bag."​

​

 

[sodamo]

It's not a bad thing at all, but when the only thing Slate marketing has been harping on is customization for most of their ads, it prompts an eye roll or two. There has to be a balance and so far there's not a single peep from the so called Slate University that should have the technical documentation for the DIY tinker crowd who'll actually end up getting the most use out of the barebones platform.

Like @Letas said, customizing the visual appearance of a car or truck isn't unique to Slate. Anyone can make a custom deerskin leather seat wrap for F150 Lightning or MachE. So far none of these "creator showcases" highlights anything unique about the Slate platform.

Most likely not developed enough for tech details in the wild. Can you imagine the furor if some info was released, someone developed a major customization and then the original was modded to make the customization unusable?

 

[Letas]

You’re right but Slate is built around customization and will likely develop a community around it. This is just a taste of what people will do. If this is successful we are likely going to see some absolutely insane Slate Builds on Social Media and possibly on the roads which will help sell the truck. So giving the slate prototypes to creators and telling them to go nuts with it isn’t a bad decision to start help developing that community for the Truck.

Slate was built around affordability and “extreme customization”. The affordability topic has been beat to death- I won’t touch on it more.

So far none of the customizations are any different than you could do on an F150.
And those communities already exist. And it’s more fruitful to build them around the high sales of an F150 (or the like).

The USP of customization is floundering.

 

[KevinRS]

The truck is still a year from first delivery. That would be an incredibly long time in advance to expect ground clearance, fluid capacities, wiring details, etc.
Actually, fluid capacities... which fluids?
Windshield washer, yes
Coolant is likely to be realistically like 10 year+ life, it isn't going to have to deal with nearly the heat an ICE engine deals with.
Single speed transmission may have some kind of oil, but again, long life.
Power steering, brakes? again long life.
It will be at least a year before you have a chance to get ahold of the truck, and it may be years after that before you need the first fluid change besides adding washer fluid.

 

[Shibbyjeep]

This almost makes me want to cancel my reservation. Ew.

 

[SparkYellow]

I met a colleague at work yesterday and we haven't seen each other for well over six months. After I started talking about EVs, he told me that he has a reservation on an R2. He's never heard about Slate at all. I think these cute contents are quick ways to get more exposure. Someone might get drawn by the vibrant colors and then realize that Slate is a very unique truck. The same custom covers can be done to any vehicle, but Toyota doesn't need this in their 4Runners. I cannot imagine the same covers in a F-250 either!

It does help soften the image of a truck as a macho ride. It can be macho on the outside, but warm and cute on the inside. Most of us with a reservation already have at least one car to drive. There are instances where one needs to convince a partner on the purchase of another vehicle. These contents will certainly help bridge the gap.

I am waiting for a video that shows how easy it is to remove the frunk tray from the front. It'd be great if they can show us that even a thick person can get under the truck easily to work on anything.

I would like to see a Mad Max Slate with flexible solar panels on the hood. Bull horns attached to the front grill. Camper shell built with mismatched reclaimed wood. Rusted chains holding down wooden crates. Will there be brackets or anchor points around the truck to hang Jerry cans, axes, shovels, truck nuts, and etc.? Let me search the forum...