Factory Delivery option

[mini702]

Credible source please

The reality of running a successful auto business.

No storefront?
No demo product?
No in-person expert, 100% invested in Slate, to answer questions?
Random corporate mechanics installing wrap and interior bits @ $190/hr?
Random corporate mechanics with ZERO EV experience doing Slate warranty repairs?

The 'partner' business model is unsustainable.

Is every new Slate going to come with a wrap color booklet?
Is every new Slate going to come with a sales brochure of all the available accessories?
Sounds like a big part of their business is going to be halfass marketed.
The fact that they don't want to profit from pop and install labor is concerning.

Slate is going to need a showroom/retail store/trained mechanics if it wants to stay in business after the initial wave of early adopters. Dealerships exist for a reason.

We're still assuming Amazon warehouses ALL parts, including body parts & bumpers, brake pads, glass & windshield. In which case it should be to you in a day or two given the million warehouses they have. Otherwise you get another Tesla fiasco with cars in body shop limbo for weeks.

Slate may not have the pre-order commitments to justify the 'dealership' expenses right now, but at some point it will have to happen.

 

[sodamo]

The reality of running a successful auto business.

No storefront?
No demo product?
No in-person expert, 100% invested in Slate, to answer questions?
Random corporate mechanics installing wrap and interior bits @ $190/hr?
Random corporate mechanics with ZERO EV experience doing Slate warranty repairs?

The 'partner' business model is unsustainable.

Is every new Slate going to come with a wrap color booklet?
Is every new Slate going to come with a sales brochure of all the available accessories?
Sounds like a big part of their business is going to be halfass marketed.
The fact that they don't want to profit from pop and install labor is concerning.

Slate is going to need a showroom/retail store/trained mechanics if it wants to stay in business after the initial wave of early adopters. Dealerships exist for a reason.

We're still assuming Amazon warehouses ALL parts, including body parts & bumpers, brake pads, glass & windshield. In which case it should be to you in a day or two given the million warehouses they have. Otherwise you get another Tesla fiasco with cars in body shop limbo for weeks.

Slate may not have the pre-order commitments to justify the 'dealership' expenses right now, but at some point it will have to happen.

Bottomline - no credible Slate attribution - just your opinion.

 

[CorvusCorvax]

Bottomline - no credible Slate attribution - just your opinion.

Bingo.

 

[christoph_slate]

Bottomline - no credible Slate attribution - just your opinion.

No credible Slate attribution because what people that DO work for Slate have said is the exact opposite.

"The fact that they don't want to profit from pop and install labor is concerning."

Ford, GM, etc. don't profit off "pop and install labor," as the manufacture and dealer are completely different and separate businesses. A dealer can profit off of that, but a manufacture doesn't, other than whatever profit margin is baked into the accessory. No different with Slate."

"a wrap color booklet ... a sales brochure of all the available accessories"

Just because Slate is bringing back a vehicle type from the 90s doesn't mean it should market it like we were still in the 90s! You have a highly interactive wrap color booklet and brochure right here: https://www.slate.auto/en. It's like people I work with who have exactly zero marketing or sales experience constantly saying "we should make a flyer!" Like, no. We're many decades past that being a thing.

"Random corporate mechanics ..."

I'm not sure what "corporate" is supposed to mean here, considering mechanics at dealers also work for a corporation, and some RepairPal locations are independently owned shops. There is a concern that's valid that there are only about 100 HV certified shops on the RepairPal list, but Slate's plan seems to be training and support for growing that number, at least from a reading of their job postings. That said, go drop your Ford/GM/Stellantis EV off at the dealer and find out that Scott the one HV certified technician is on vacation this week. Or ... that particular dealer has exactly no one certified to work on HV systems. It's a problem in the EV space, period.

Is Slate's partner business model sustainable? I don't know. But you are aware that the Ford/GM/Stellantis business model is ALSO a partner business model and has been that way for 100 years? Dealers doing all those things you think are necessary are separate businesses that are partners with the OEMs.

 

[RevCaptJack]

No credible Slate attribution because what people that DO work for Slate have said is the exact opposite.

"The fact that they don't want to profit from pop and install labor is concerning."

Ford, GM, etc. don't profit off "pop and install labor," as the manufacture and dealer are completely different and separate businesses. A dealer can profit off of that, but a manufacture doesn't, other than whatever profit margin is baked into the accessory. No different with Slate."

"a wrap color booklet ... a sales brochure of all the available accessories"

Just because Slate is bringing back a vehicle type from the 90s doesn't mean it should market it like we were still in the 90s! You have a highly interactive wrap color booklet and brochure right here: https://www.slate.auto/en. It's like people I work with who have exactly zero marketing or sales experience constantly saying "we should make a flyer!" Like, no. We're many decades past that being a thing.

"Random corporate mechanics ..."

I'm not sure what "corporate" is supposed to mean here, considering mechanics at dealers also work for a corporation, and some RepairPal locations are independently owned shops. There is a concern that's valid that there are only about 100 HV certified shops on the RepairPal list, but Slate's plan seems to be training and support for growing that number, at least from a reading of their job postings. That said, go drop your Ford/GM/Stellantis EV off at the dealer and find out that Scott the one HV certified technician is on vacation this week. Or ... that particular dealer has exactly no one certified to work on HV systems. It's a problem in the EV space, period.

Is Slate's partner business model sustainable? I don't know. But you are aware that the Ford/GM/Stellantis business model is ALSO a partner business model and has been that way for 100 years? Dealers doing all those things you think are necessary are separate businesses that are partners with the OEMs.

You obviously don’t know the caliber of people and the process they've been through since 2022. I am so impressed with who they are and what they have done. Why are you so negative?

 

[christoph_slate]

You obviously don’t know the caliber of people and the process they've been through since 2022. I am so impressed with who they are and what they have done. Why are you so negative?

Huh? I was defending Slate's model.

 

[SlateWannaBe]

Slate is going to need a showroom/retail store/trained mechanics if it wants to stay in business after the initial wave of early adopters. Dealerships exist for a reason.
….

I find the lack of a dealership intermediary an appealing aspect with the Slate. I don’t want additional add-ons chosen by the dealer or any high pressure sales tactics nor do I want to subsidize a dealer in my area.

 

[RevCaptJack]

Huh? I was defending Slate's model.

Sorry. Glad to hear that. Somehow it didn’t come across to me like that.

 

[P. Regent]

The reality of running a successful auto business.

Until it isn't. Malls with department store anchors were the model of successful retail. Until they weren't. Wineries and restaurants were the hot businesses of the early 21st Century - until they weren't. The legacy model for auto retail was set up in the 20th Century and hasn't changed significantly since that time. I don't buy most things the way I did in the past any more. I research on line, and much of the time buy on line for pickup or delivery at my convenience. The idea that the only way to run a successful auto business is to do it the way Stellantis, GM, Ford, etc. do is flawed.

Tesla sold more cars than they could build for years before they built out their brick and mortar. Does anyone really go to a Tesla store to decide to buy one?
"Musk, in an email to employees, wrote that 78 percent of all Model 3s were purchased online last year rather than in a store, and 82 percent of buyers did it without a test drive." (From an article written in 2019)

I guess Tesla didn't get mini702's memo.

 

[KevinRS]

Seems I heard the Slate can’t be towed unless on a trailer. Might want to check that out.

check the date on the post you are replying to, it's from August 11, 2025.

 

[CorvusCorvax]

I guess Tesla didn't get mini702's memo.

I laughed out loud.

I am very excited about not having to visit a dealer to get my Slate. It's a selling point, in fact. I don't need any brick and mortar to buy Slate stuff, thanks. I don't need a dealership filled with half-stoned technicians working on my new ride, thanks.

(Funny, I don't remember my Audi smelling like weed when I brought it in for recall work.)

 

[mini702]

Wow, some of you are ignorant and narrow-sighted.

I actually am a professional mechanic and for some time worked at a new car dealer.

 

[RevCaptJack]

check the date on the post you are replying to, it's from August 11, 2025.

. No matter when the post was, unless something changes a Slate shouldn’t be towed on all 4 wheels. Could damage the drivetrain.

 

[KevinRS]

. But is it or isn’t it “tow-able”? Seems chewed it isn’t. Which would be a shame. Seems like a perfect “tow behind” vehicle.

Not towable was confirmed months ago. Would need to be able to disconnect the wheels from the driveline, which would have been an additional cost. Really there aren't any flat towable EVs, and most automatic transmission cars also say not to flat tow.
Worse would be the idea many have when they say they want to flat tow, so they can charge by towing. It's both about the worst way to charge, and will cause damage.

 

[mini702]

Tesla sold more cars than they could build for years before they built out their brick and mortar.

Correction... Tesla sold only as many cars as they built.
Correct. Tesla saw the value of having a 'dealership'. You're a genius for noticing.

Does anyone really go to a Tesla store to decide to buy one?
"Musk, in an email to employees, wrote that 78 percent of all Model 3s were purchased online last year rather than in a store, and 82 percent of buyers did it without a test drive." (From an article written in 2019)

Apple effect... repeat buyers and new buyers that got to experience the product thru friends, with a bit of reputation built in.
I would never buy "the cheapest new car for sale in the US" so the same applies to "the cheapest new truck/ev for sale in the US" until proven worthy.