Net gain (or loss) per truck produced - Slate's answer

[sodamo]

I would doubt they handle it, overhead.
ApplePay?

 

[E90400K]

The Bank of Bezos...

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

Way too early to speculate but I wonder if Slate will handle their own financing for customers. Interest payments would help soften it a little on purchases.

they did say they would have financing or people could get out side financing

 

[brian10x]

Punctuation!

 

[Roy]

Regarding the money flow on this start-up. As the answer said, this is a private held company. So where all of the start-up money has originated from, or what tax breaks they may have acquired is not going to be know for sometime. I would suspect that a bean counter has already forecast all of this with a possible 10 or 15 % variable. But you have to admit that the wild cards in all of this will be the economy. What affect tariffs and inflation have on that forecast. If they follow a semi-normal business pattern, I would suspect that 5 years is there pain point. At three years they should have a good picture of that future bench mark.

I am betting my, refundable 50 bucks, that they will get a simple, affordable EV to market on time and on the price point.

 

[danielt1263]

I suspect they will sell the truck for more than their marginal cost, otherwise they can't expect to recoup their expenses, but I think they will be going for volume of sales rather than high profit margin.

Someone up thread guessed 30% profit margin and that may very well be what the big auto manufacturers pull, but I think Slate will be going for something much lower for the vehicle itself... 10% at best. At least at first. Now for the add-ons? That's likely going to be quite a bit bigger profit margin and 30% sounds reasonable for those parts. Maybe even 50% for the smaller light covers and such.

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

Well we don’t know the manufacturer cost of the truck by it self ether for all we know it cost 11,000 and all the rest is mark up

 

[OldGoat]

If a manufacturer pulls a 20% margin on a volume vehicle they are quite happy. That’s why they load them up with “options “ as 20% of $50k is more profitable than 20% of $40k. Slate will likely pull 40-60% margins on aftermarket goods.

 

[GraySlate]

lol ok makes since is 30% the norm ?

30% isn't the norm anymore. Tesla, for instance, is running at about 16% (approx. $7000 per vehicle using $45k average sales price) right now, and they are at the top of the profitability food chain for mass built vehicles at this time. Mercedes is at about 12% (approx. $5300/vehicle using a $44k average sales price). Average sales price is probably on the low side for both, but my per vehicle dollars are documented, so their percentages are probably a little lower than i'm saying.
Tesla was much higher in 21 and 22 (about $10k-$13k per vehicle), but that has changed with competition forcing lower vehicle pricing, etc. I would guess that Slate is doing their due diligence to develop ways to maximize profitability of their aftermarket add-ons to make up for their low price and margin on the vehicles (among other things too).

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

yah that’s true