Expected price now "Mid-Twenties" for Slate truck

[AZFox]

When you plot quantity demanded at various prices you get a demand curve. The slope of that curve represents price elasticity of demand (price sensitivity).

How does this relate to this thread, you ask?

Slate needs to guesstimate what the demand curve and price accordingly.

Penetration pricing means "erring on the low side" for the jump-start effect of selling units rapidly while things are getting going.

Eventually guesstimating the demand curve will be easier based on how things go.

 

[Letas]

How does this relate to this thread, you ask?

Slate needs to guesstimate what the demand curve and price accordingly.

Penetration pricing means "erring on the low side" for the jump-start effect of selling units rapidly while things are getting going.

Eventually guesstimating the demand curve will be easier based on how things go.

Slate could also take a cost-plus price model and share that with consumers. Younger generation values transparency a ton.

 

[Daemoch]

I'd be fine with knowing what it actually costs and still realizing folks gotta feed their kids and pay their bills and stuff so the price will have to be "cost+". I own a business. I get it. I wont let my vendors under charge me because they have to make ends meet too....or I'll always be shopping for new vendors (and that costs me time=$).

Consider this: just look at what costs have done globally in the last 5 years. Now assume SLate has some setbacks and they come to market 5 years from now (FINALLY! YAY!). Do we REALLY expect them to honor the original pricing projections they started with? ARE YOU INSANE? lol

 

[Trace26]

You could buy a used pickup for $5k off of marketplace, if not cheaper, and not spend another $20k on it for the next decade or more, to match the cost of the new slate

Thats not knocking the slate, thats just reality. My '03 F150 was like $3500

If you don't do all the work yourself, you can hit that $20,000 in repairs real fast if you're unlucky.

 

[Daemoch]

I bought a used 2000 S10 (2WD, auto, ext cab) for $2500 from a good friend with about 120k on it He'd bought it a few years prior from the original owner with about 40k on it and had all records down to mpg records per tank (for business purposes). The drive shaft made noise. Turned out it was a 2 piece HD shaft that in addition to being rebuilt needed to be rebalanced, too. There was only one shop in the Chicago area we could find that could/would do it and they charged $4k just for the rebuild and balance. Cheap trucks arent always.

 

[cadblu]

I’m going to repost a picture I took yesterday.

This is what you can expect with a 25 year old pickup truck with 150k+ miles. This is why you should buy the Slate.

Any questions?

 

[sodamo]

Soooooo, is that $$$ just resting on the pavement?

 

[E90400K]

Hard pressed not to consider as competitive to a Slate. A truck with paint, radio, and 6' box.

 

[E90400K]

I’m going to repost a picture I took yesterday.

This is what you can expect with a 25 year old pickup truck with 150k+ miles. This is why you should buy the Slate.

Any questions?

Rorschach test?

 

[E90400K]

The this Ridgeline. Paint, radio, tow hitch, flat 4x8 sheet bed. Bed trunk. Dual tailgate.

 

[GaRailroader]

Hard pressed not to consider as competitive to a Slate. A truck with paint, radio, and 6' box.

This is very similar to what I got rid of 3.5 years ago when I concluded it would be more cost effective to daily operate an EV and rent a truck on occasion when I need it. In early 2022 I sold my white 2019 Chevy Colorado extended cab RWD 6 speed and bought a 2022 Nissan Leaf with 150 mile battery. Everyone’s EV operation costs vary, but I save 10 cents per mile driving the Leaf versus the Colorado. I do rent a flat bed truck from Home Depot a mile down the road pretty regularly. So I am going to hold out for the affordable EV pick-up versus going back to ICE.

 

[cadblu]

Hard pressed not to consider as competitive to a Slate. A truck with paint, radio, and 6' box.

Nice truck. I'm sure the dealer will add in some options you don't want to inflate the out the door price.

Final assembly point, Mexico. Just a side bar question, how is this exempt from tariffs?

 

[GaRailroader]

Nice truck. I'm sure the dealer will add in some options you don't want to inflate the out the door price.

Final assembly point, Mexico. Just a side bar question, how is this exempt from tariffs?

When you see that asterisk next to the price you can rest assure that is not the price. Read the fine print and find out all the junk fees they are adding to it. When I make an offer at the dealer I tell them I will pay this price plus tax, tag and title. Whatever junk fees they want to charge they just need adjust the numbers so with their junk fees it comes out to my offer price. This levels the playing field between dealers.

 

[E90400K]

When you see that asterisk next to the price you can rest assure that is not the price. Read the fine print and find out all the junk fees they are adding to it. When I make an offer at the dealer I tell them I will pay this price plus tax, tag and title. Whatever junk fees they want to charge they just need adjust the numbers so with their junk fees it comes out to my offer price. This levels the playing field between dealers.

I do the same. I've built a spreadsheet for vehicle purchases that calculates the monthly payment (if I finance). My sheet correctly applies the price I will pay, taxes, dealer fees, and DMV fees, and applies the down payment to get to the correct loan amount. My number is usually within a dollar of the dealer's number. It's the way they finance the loan with a 45-day 1st payment and my sheet uses a 30-day 1st payment. There is no mystery to it, it's just math. My state DMV publishes the DMV fees. If the dealer's price doesn't match my numbers and the monthly is not within a dollar of the payment (if there is one) then I simply get up and walk away. There is always another dealer and another truck to buy. The buyer has the money, so he has the leverage.

I always go in pre-financed anyway to avoid those shenanigans. I know a lot of people can't do that, especially as first-time buyers, but if you can, you should. Join a Credit Union...

 

[E90400K]

Nice truck. I'm sure the dealer will add in some options you don't want to inflate the out the door price.

Final assembly point, Mexico. Just a side bar question, how is this exempt from tariffs?

Personally, I'm really good at saying no to the add on crap. In fact, I enjoy saying no, and telling why I'm saying no. It's just business, not personal. I was surprised to find out Toyota moved the Taco assembly to Mexico a few model years back (they used to build Tacos in Texas).

As an alternate choice, the Nissan Frontier is also available with a RWD short cab/long bed configuration, and it is built in Mississippi. The trans is from Japan (good!) and the 3.8L V6 is built in the US (good!). It's in the same price range as the Taco.

But the reason I posted a few examples of other trucks from Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, is just to point out the value of the Slate. At $27,500 plus $1,000 to get it wrapped, AND if you went with the larger battery, which probably adds $2,700 to the price, the Slate is near $32,000. For few thousand dollars more, you get a whole lot more truck (if you actually want a truck).