I think I am “over The Slate”

[KevinRS]

I know they said pricing coming in June but I think I’m going to need some more info before then, I may not be able to wait until the end of the year to get a truck and I think it’s kinda crazy 9 months or less away from launch and I feel like we still don’t really know a lot about the truck

AFAIK none of the new vehicles by startups or established manufacturers have announced an actual price 9 months out and stuck with it. Slate probably has them beat just by not already increasing the planned price in the past year.
If you can't wait, you can't wait. Slate isn't going to ship sooner.
Less than 3 months and we should be getting more details on the truck, and firmer pricing on the truck, pricing on accessories, etc.

 

[beatle]

In 2021, Ford advertised the Lightning as starting at $40k, but very few people were able to buy them at that price. The other trims' prices were not set until January 2022, with deliveries starting 4 months later in May.

The Silverado EV didn't even stick to its $40k entry price. By the time they sold their stripper 3 years after announcement, it was $57k.

Rivian was also burned by early price announcements, having to grandfather in early reservation holders to the lower initial price. This was very costly, but the backlash of not doing this may have otherwise killed any early adopter momentum and tarnished the brand.

Slate is already in a tough spot to offer the base truck at no more than $27,500 based on their initial announcement. At this point they have almost nothing to gain and almost everything to lose by announcing anything else regarding the price. I think a June announcement is still a little aggressive, assuming they actually deliver vehicles in 2026.

 

[bloo]

A big screen TV instead of a dashboard costing a fortune when it broke and ready to inundate you with puerile ads by listening to your conversations all the time you are driving.
https://sherwood.news/business/the-...makers-now-view-infotainment-screens-as-huge/
No thanks.

I saw Kinky Boots for the first time last night. I'd rather wear those down the runway than see ads on my dashboard.

 

[E90400K]

Ford kept the published price on the Bronco when I reserved mine in Sept. 2020 and finally took delivery Aug. 2022. But it's ICE. LOL.

 

[E90400K]

I know they said pricing coming in June but I think I’m going to need some more info before then, I may not be able to wait until the end of the year to get a truck and I think it’s kinda crazy 9 months or less away from launch and I feel like we still don’t really know a lot about the truck

End of the year? Hardly anyone is going to get a Slate Truck by the end of 2027. Most of us need to think in terms of late 2027 at best. I reserved on day 2; I don't expect my slot to open for delivery by mid to late 2027.

 

[bloo]

End of the year? Hardly anyone is going to get a Slate Truck by the end of 2027. Most of us need to think in terms of late 2027 at best. I reserved on day 2; I don't expect my slot to open for delivery by mid to late 2027.

Guess I'll have to baby my Seltos then. It blew a tranny at 90,000 miles. Thank God it was under warranty. It's 115,000 now, so the next failure won't be.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

There is an awful lot of optimism here about delivery dates. It's reasonable to expect Slate to do a few token deliveries to employee customers in late 2026, just so they can do a press release gloating about meeting that promise. But volume production ALWAYS takes time. There has never been a new factory in automotive history that turns on and starts churning out 15,000 vehicles a month. More like 10 the first week. Then maybe 100 the second week. Then there is a big celebration when they hit 1,000 in a month. And little celebrations every time the line speed is increased significantly.

The price optimism is probably more realisitic. I say that because Slate will almost certainly be willing to sell early production at a loss. Rivian and Tesla and Lucid all did this. But the thing is that they had multiple billions in venture capital. Slate does not. So Slate is on more of a razor's edge between survival and collapse.

That's the part that most interests me about Slate. Their pricing strategy, as part of a larger strategy to reach volume and profitability. Because, you know, they're a business. And they have to make a profit sooner or later. Unless Jeff Bezos has decided that Slate is a charity where he'll give away his billions to the public in the form of trucks that sell for less than they cost to produce.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

End of the year? Hardly anyone is going to get a Slate Truck by the end of 2027. Most of us need to think in terms of late 2027 at best. I reserved on day 2; I don't expect my slot to open for delivery by mid to late 2027.

Do you mean 2026 instead of 2027? I mean, Slate has repeatedly said that they expect to start delivering at the end of 2026, so someone's got to get theirs.

 

[E90400K]

Do you mean 2026 instead of 2027? I mean, Slate has repeatedly said that they expect to start delivering at the end of 2026, so someone's got to get theirs.

No, I meant 2027. I know Slate says end of 2026 for deliveries to start and we'll see how many they can produce in the few months at the end of 2026. But IMO, I think the change in CEO indicates there are significant delays in production (not to again beat the CEO subject to death). 150,000 trucks over 50 weeks with 2 shifts is 78 vehicles an hour assuming the ramp to full-rate production starts January 2027.

 

[cadblu]

No, I meant 2027. I know Slate says end of 2026 for deliveries to start and we'll see how many they can produce in the few months at the end of 2026. But IMO, I think the change in CEO indicates there are significant delays in production (not to again beat the CEO subject to death). 150,000 trucks over 50 weeks with 2 shifts is 78 vehicles an hour assuming the ramp to full-rate production starts January 2027.

Slate will lose some of its competitive advantage if production delays push deliveries into mid 2027 and beyond. Slate’s leadership team is keenly aware that Time to Market is paramount. We know there are other interesting offerings coming into play next year (eg. Rivian R2, Bolt, Ford’s U-platform, Kia EV2). I understand these aren’t true competitors but some folks here may be getting impatient.

Let’s be realistic. Slate’s factory, tooling, warehouse, supply chain and automation really isn’t there yet. And this all assumes they will ‘get it right’ the first time. Critical jobs remain open, and training of new hires takes time. Any small delay will become a huge fire in no time. I hope my patience will pay off.

 

[AZFox]

How does model year changeover fit in? It typically happens around September (mid-August to late October), correct?

In January Chris Barman said "By the end of the year, we’ll be shipping vehicles. We’ll bring on more crews and reach full rate of production in 2027."

For the sake of discussion let's say they start selling Blank Slates to customers in December of 2026 and gradually ramp the factory up to full production capacity in one year.

Does that mean that they'll produce relatively few Model Year 2027 Blank Slates?

 

[NMNeil]

I saw Kinky Boots for the first time last night. I'd rather wear those down the runway than see ads on my dashboard.

Funny you should say that, not the boots, but the ads.
Yesterday my Raspberry PiHole quit. I have a spare but without it the internet and my TV were totally unusable with the constant stream of ads. I ended up just turning everything off until I installed my spare Pi. A quick check on the new Pi and it's already automatically blocking 450,822 servers that send you ads.
If they can jam in an ad somewhere, they will, and where better than a captive audience in a car?

 

[KevinRS]

I think that while you shouldn't be too optimistic, there is a bit too much pessimism here on delivery dates.
The line should start running late spring-early summer. That would be the 10 a week time, and most of those would be going to testing, certification, and events. That fits with starting test drive events and such in June. By the end of the year they should be getting real numbers out, delivered to people on the reservation list, not full 150k/year speed, but enough to be making real delivery numbers.
By the end of 2027 they plan to be at that 150k/year rate.

Also keep in mind they will not have 100% conversion. No one has had 100% conversion, even with significantly larger deposits. They may be able to get through those 150k reservations that were made by September before the end of 2027, maybe well before that time.

 

[sodamo]

End of the year? Hardly anyone is going to get a Slate Truck by the end of 2027. Most of us need to think in terms of late 2027 at best. I reserved on day 2; I don't expect my slot to open for delivery by mid to late 2027.

I prefer to be more optimistic and my Day 2 reservation be delivered for my birthday, Nov 26. Of course if you are earlier res than me I accept your offer to wait. 😁

Quite frankly, a long delay is just about only reason I’d cancel except significant price change.

 

[Susan]

Funny you should say that, not the boots, but the ads.
Yesterday my Raspberry PiHole quit. I have a spare but without it the internet and my TV were totally unusable with the constant stream of ads. I ended up just turning everything off until I installed my spare Pi. A quick check on the new Pi and it's already automatically blocking 450,822 servers that send you ads.
If they can jam in an ad somewhere, they will, and where better than a captive audience in a car?

I could not use the internet without my ad blockers. Pages that require them, I don't bother with. Or I check for an archived page. I block YouTube ads too, on my PC. If a PiHole can do that for Android TV, I'll be checking it out.

Quite honestly, as much as people hate ads, having them in your car seems like a safety issue. How much road rage are we going to see due to ads that drivers can't do anything about?