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I love the patriotic sentiment about locking the Chinese automakers out of the USA. But I suppose those guys are cool with the Chinese locking American OEMs out of the Chinese market, which BTW is literally 2X the size of the American market and has generated vast profits for non-Chinese OEMs...

Yup, the only thing that would fill me with car lust more than an R2T would be a two door R3T.

The Slate appeals to me only at a very, very low price. So I'm on hold waiting for numbers. The Ford is too much of a mystery right now to form any kind of opinion, but I'm driving a Maverick, and I could go the same thing only electric. I love what Ford is saying. AWD available, 300+ miles...

For those who care, "Ford on the Road" will have a little event Tuesday, 17 Feb at 11 AM on this vehicle. For those who don't care, there is an "ignore" button atop every thread. The ignore button is a great tool to lower your blood pressure, fwiw.

My point wasn't that Slate is cheap. My point was that Slate has to be cheap. Very different statements. When I think about Slate pricing, my mind wanders to resale value and depreciation. I wonder what Slates will be going for used after two years. That's gonna be even more interesting than...

I believe irresistably low cost is the only way Slate sells stripped vehicles at scale. All the other advertising pitches are just fluff. I actually owned two Slates for ten years and 100,000 miles each. They were stripped Ford Rangers, with a 140HP 4 cylinder engine, two-door single cabs...

I'm withholding judgement until I see how the market reacts. We can all voice our opinions till the cows come home, but only real people paying real money for real product has any meaning. And real money is not a refundable $50 reservation performed with a mouse click.

TBH, I kind of wish Slate had put a minimalist hood, and used the 18" space saved as an extended cab. A huge hood like that is totally not needed on a BEV. I'm guessing Slate did it (1) because pickup buyers are slaves to tradition, and (2) it" was simpler and cheaper to engineer if they wasted...

For those who care, the R2 is only currently available in SUV form, $45K and up. The R2S is 15 inches shorter than the R1S at 185" length. That's about 15 inches shorter than the Maverick, 10 inches longer than the Slate. An R2T has been deniably hinted at, but not "anytime soon". Rivian trucks...

Things that car guys always scream bloody murder about and nobody actually buys... bench seats manual transmissions two door trucks station wagons vehicles without all the fancy gadgets

This week's Autoline After Hours guest speaker explained why a front bench seat costs an insane amount of time, money and effort to engineer - and results in compromised utility. And I think he probably knows what he's talking about, because he's from the world's premier seat company. This is a...

99% of people want power windows, but Slate left those out. 99% of people want four doors, but Slate left those out. 99% of people want "xyz", but Slate left "xyz" out. Just sayin...

Personally, I'd love a passenger side pass through from the bed for long loads. Now that I think of it, I wish Slate offered a build with the passenger seat removed for a cost reduction. I mean, only what you need, right? Isn't that the Slate mantra? Why isn't the passenger seat an accessory?

The only thing I'd be worried about if I were the Slate CEO in 2026 is getting across the finish line. Meaning (1) building a vehicle, (2) selling the vehicle at scale, and (3) making a profit on that vehicle large enough to amortize a billion in startup costs and generate an operating profit as...

Auto industry history is inescapable. Slate doesn't "aspire" to have more models. Slate "must" have more models. Because "a stripper two-door truck is all we sell" company ain't gonna survive long. You need scale and products that address more than a teensy-tiny segment of the market. I think...

I am envisioning hospital emergency rooms having to set up electrocution units for Slate owners doiing "warranty work". I can also see American lawyers salivating at the idea of lawsuits for people getting hurt doing warranty work on their Slates. Little known factoid: 50% of legal activity...

The only thing harder than building cars is selling cars. I'm confident Slate can build the truck. I'm not confident they can sell it at scale. And in the same breath, I'd follow that with "But I'm an idiot layman not in the industry and what do I know"".

I don't care to make any predictions on how all this is gonna fly with the auto buying public. But it's gonna be crazy interesting. Seriously. when it comes to predicting public response to Slate's offerings and plans? I don't think even Slate knows.

One thing I noticed in this video was that the Slate guy had obviously been trained in PR (yes, you get training for that). There are a few spots where Jay asked something unflattering, and the Slate guy just smoothly pivoted his response to redirect attention to his talking points. If you have...

I have a very strong suspicion that the Slate agents are just that - AI chatbot agents. Unfailingly polite and maybe a bit too sugary. Both hallmarks of an AI chatbot.