The Slate Truck Needs A Four-Door Version!

[JeffVA]

Doug DeMuro thinks two-door is a no-go. (I disagree.)

He has no idea what he is talking about. His child safety seat and everything he knows centers around 4 doors. I'll wait for his YouTube video a few years from now when he admits how clueless he was about the 2 door Slate

 

[slateya]

What a jerk way to make the point that 4 doors are more popular that two doors.
Millions of two door trucks have been sold. Just because automakers focused on the 4 door, therefore the price difference between a new four-door and two-door truck is not much so people just say might as well have the four-door.

 

[Rocket13foxtrot]

If I add up everything I’ve read that people wish the Slate had, suddenly you’ve got a $100K Rivian. Kinda misses the whole point.

I feel like this is Scout. It's becoming posh and techy the more they reveal about it... An expensive off-road focused EV. This slate has more in common with original Scout design philosophy than the new scouts.

Don't forget your identity, slate.

 

[AZFox]

My opinion about owning a small two-door truck comes from a few years' experience owning one.

When I was college-age I drove a 1972 Datsun Pickup . It was great!

I've been noodling the idea of a small, simple modern electric version of that Datsun Pickup for quite a while. When I saw the Slate announcement I was blown away.

IMHO SUVs and pickups didn't get bigger and grow extra doors because of consumer demand, rather it happened because of things like CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards that essentially legislated them out of production.

Not just CAFE restrictions, but import rules accomplished that. I had a 1989 Dodge Raider (a.k.a. Mitsubishi Montero) that was a fantastic off-road performer. It far exceeded the off-road capabilities of the Jeep CJ-5 I owned previously.

Shortly after '89 they quit importing the 2-door version of the Montero because it was re-classified as a truck-based SUV. The result? Much-higher import duties priced the 2-door Montero completely out of of the U.S. market. That didn't happen to the four-door.

I could be wrong about this next import restriction: I believe foreign manufacturers are restricted to a certain quantity of vehicles per year. If that's true, it stands to reason that they'd have incentive to embiggen the models they import.

So it seems to me like Doug DeMuro's assumptions are off. He's apparently assuming the industry is creating what consumers are demanding, however there are also CAFE standards and other government restrictions to consider.

 

[AZFox]

Here's someone's explanation regarding CAFE Standards. He mentions the Slate Truck at the end.

 

[Mad Mac]

You are spot on, AZFox.

The "Chicken Tax" was imposed initially by Lyndon Johnson in the '60s for chickens and other goods such as light trucks imported into the U.S.

Some of you may recall the Subaru Brat with two seats in the bed which allowed it to be classified as an SUV in order to avoid the 25% duty on light trucks.

Believe it or not that 25% duty is still with us.

 

[JeffVA]

No it doesn't