Factory Delivery option

[AZFox]

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

Some of us are paying attention, and realizing that the plan to operate Slate Automotive as a capital-light company is a good one that was conceived, and is being executed, by very smart, experienced business people.

 

[FlyHappy]

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.

There are a fair number of forum members who have also been auto industry pro's.
To be frank, your experience as a mechanic, dealership or not, doesn't lend any particular expertise or weight to your opinions.

Tesla, Rivian, Lucid and Slate all have different origin stories, and none do everything the same way, and that includes the physical presences that you insist are required. But they are all direct-to-consumer operations. That's where the similarity begins and ends.

Slate is fundementally a low margin, low capital manufacturer that is attempting to carve out its niche, in a new and novel way. They will suceed or fail, in their own way, and it certainly won't look like anything you so boldly stated as fact.

 

[sodamo]

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.

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.

So you are here why? Guessing not a preorder.

 

[tubes]

I don't want to send @mini702 off packing just yet. They deserve to have their say, it has value.

I think having a mechanic's viewpoint (current or former) is interesting. And that's perhaps where the disconnect comes from. I won't re-iterate everything said in the few posts above about Slate doing thing different, I'll just affirm them.

Slate is trying something completely different, and this is very disruptive to those currently in charge, especially those who are in (or have history with) franchised dealer networks. Dealers should be worried. Tesla may have some brick and mortar, but it is lightweight in comparison. This is the future, and it means huge change. Change is hard.

We're already seeing dealers squeal about EVs. "What, no oil changes?" The secret is out that dealers make their big money after the deal by running the real "stealership" model back in the repair bays.

Today, a regular mechanic at a dealer has the worst of all worlds. The world is changing, so they have to keep up. The outside world is imploring kids to become mechanics, causing oversupply in some cases. Meanwhile, dealers are "stealers" to their mechanics too, and squeeze the hell out of them. It is a job I would not want.

And for the record, I think @mini702 has a point that some day Slate will have a brick and mortar presence. We know they will have roaming field advisors. If Slate survives and gets volume, they have to have regional centers for repair and other tasks.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

I don't want to send @mini702 off packing just yet. They deserve to have their say, it has value.

I think having a mechanic's viewpoint (current or former) is interesting. And that's perhaps where the disconnect comes from. I won't re-iterate everything said in the few posts above about Slate doing thing different, I'll just affirm them.

Slate is trying something completely different, and this is very disruptive to those currently in charge, especially those who are in (or have history with) franchised dealer networks. Dealers should be worried. Tesla may have some brick and mortar, but it is lightweight in comparison. This is the future, and it means huge change. Change is hard.

We're already seeing dealers squeal about EVs. "What, no oil changes?" The secret is out that dealers make their big money after the deal by running the real "stealership" model back in the repair bays.

Today, a regular mechanic at a dealer has the worst of all worlds. The world is changing, so they have to keep up. The outside world is imploring kids to become mechanics, causing oversupply in some cases. Meanwhile, dealers are "stealers" to their mechanics too, and squeeze the hell out of them. It is a job I would not want.

And for the record, I think @mini702 has a point that some day Slate will have a brick and mortar presence. We know they will have roaming field advisors. If Slate survives and gets volume, they have to have regional centers for repair and other tasks.

That was always the case.

We were taught that there were three profit centers….sales, finance, service. If you are so pissed at the first two, the dealer loses the biggest one - service.

The GM runs a dyslexic model where the three don’t always cooperate. The salesperson should always be selling service, except they don’t get paid to. Finance sells extended service plans bc of the huge margins and not bc they care about the customers.

Even high reliability brands like Toyota/Lexus still counts on huge revenue from service.

So, Slate is counter cultural- fix your own however you think is best - including a repair pal (or a “Cletus”).

 

[Slatester89]

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.)

Exactly ^^^. I don't visit a brick n mortar store for 90% of the crap I buy. Thank you very much Amazon Prime.

b..

 

[AZFox]

Even high reliability brands like Toyota/Lexus still counts on huge revenue from service.

So, Slate is counter cultural- fix your own however you think is best - including a repair pal (or a “Cletus”).

Instead of relying on vehicle service for ongoing revenue and profits they're expecting accessory sales to provide some ongoing revenue and profits.

Accessory sales require fulfillment centers, not storefronts.

So far it appears that they'll rely on Service Partner RepairPal to provide brick-and-mortar presence for service and repairs, plus an alternative to DIY for accessory installation.

 

[kvermeer]

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.

They didn't, but Slate surely got Tesla's memo!

I wonder how many of those 78 and 82 percent were from people who have never seen a Model 3 in person (probably few, after the first year or two), or who never had a ridealong with a friend who owns one or in an Uber. People see cars and get drive experiences in places other than dealership showrooms, I have spent a few miserable hours in my whole life there and did all my research before showing up! Tesla's got the Sentry Mode surveillance apparatus to calculate those actual numbers, Slate won't have that, but I expect Slate enthusiasts will be even more vocal ambassadors than Tesla enthusiasts.

I will admit that they do have a much better chance of selling me a $1000 pre-installed wrap if I can see a few $1 swatches of sample colors before purchase, and I think I have a better shot at picking out a dash accent color I like if I can handle a sample piece and hold it up to the truck, but that will come with time.

 

[cadblu]

Instead of relying on vehicle service for ongoing revenue and profits they're expecting accessory sales to provide some ongoing revenue and profits.

Accessory sales require fulfillment centers, not storefronts.

So far it appears that they'll rely on Service Partner RepairPal to provide brick-and-mortar presence for service and repairs, plus an alternative to DIY for accessory installation.

Except that the cycle time for accessory sales is conceivably longer than the conventional service model (eg. Wraps every 3-5 years vs. the 6 mo. oil change). But other add ons like bumpers, wheels, and various interior bits will help sustain the Slate business model. And at some point Slate should consider opening regional “outposts” similar to Rivian selling some merchandise and accessories while offering test drives. We cannot expect local?(probably not) Repair Pals sites to evolve into a storefront for Slate.

 

[sodamo]

Times, they are a changing. I think some insight in how to advance, take advantage of change would interesting. Change most often has some bumps. When those bumps get addressed by experience rather than pure theory I think we get better results.

 

[Harley Earl]

Times, they are a changing. I think some insight in how to advance, take advantage of change would interesting. Change most often has some bumps. When those bumps get addressed by experience rather than pure theory I think we get better results.

@sodamo Once had a Hawaiian car person tell me that "we ride the same wave". You and I Ride the same wave!

 

[christoph_slate]

"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 bought a Model Y in 2021. I was looking for a big-boy EV to replace my Chevy Spark EV. I wasn't actually considering the Model Y. I did have the Model 3 on my list. Then, Tesla had a pop-up event at my barber shop, of all places. I went with my wife and we drove the Model 3 and Y and she convinced me to get the Y. We went to lunch and ordered one from my phone that day.

I don't need a test drive for the Slate. 15 minutes driving a car around doesn't tell you much unless it's baaaaaaad. Otherwise, I just need some auto journalist to give it a go and assuage my fears of bad, and that's it.

With that said, test drives aren't unimportant. Not important for me as an early adopter of a Slate that knows exactly what he wants, but for the me in 2021 that didn't know what he wanted. They can drive new sales. The way Tesla did it, though, was way better than a dealer experience. It was an event with food and drinks and swag, which gave my wife and I a little date with lunch after. They made it fun and nobody really tried to sell me anything. No salesman working on commission hovering over me and pressuring.

Tesla has showrooms now, but they also sell 1.5M cars a year. Slate, with a current factory capacity of 150k per year, should do just fine with the same event model. If they build out their product line and start selling 1.5M a year, generating significant cash flow, then maybe they'll build showrooms across the country. But for the Slate 2-door stripped down pickup truck? That's a small, niche market that can absolutely hit the 150k/year but not the 1.5M as the only model (even with the SUV kits). And at that volume, showrooms would be a massive capital expense with little ROI, except maybe in strategic locations.

Dealer networks are legacy baggage, and not at all what needs to be emulated by new auto companies. Especially if the RepairPal partnership actually works well.

 

[AZFox]

Dealer networks are legacy baggage, and not at all what needs to be emulated by new auto companies. Especially if the RepairPal partnership actually works well.

👆 Sums it up nicely.