Video from CES (Amazon for Automotives)

[1yeliab_sufur1]

A video at ces it’s just one of the original advertisements but it’s interesting to see Amazon for automotives but it also seems cut short if anyone has the full video would appreciate it or if it’s in the forums please link me to it https://www.linkedin.com/posts/work...urce=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link

 

[motorolas]

Curious they left in the marketing material for « under $20k with current incentives ». Wonder what choices were made to leave that dated info in.

 

[atx_ev]

there are a few states that still have 7500 EV incentives.

 

[cadblu]

Curious they left in the marketing material for « under $20k with current incentives ». Wonder what choices were made to leave that dated info in.

They just decided to let it ride with the old video. Would have costed more to edit the audio track. We’ve seen that video before on this forum. And it was really a well done piece. It’s kind of a shame that Slate won’t be attending the Detroit auto show; also the NYIAS which I attend every year at the Jacob Javits Center. But those venues are priced way out of Slate’s ballpark.

 

[RetiredOnPaper]

Pricing right now; Both because of the stage Slate is with manufacturing and the economic environment, will be nearly pure guess work. When Slate has their assembly line in place and bang out the first 10 trucks, they should have a good idea of cost per vehicle. That will give them a guide as to what their supply chain looks like, operating cost, etc. Vehicle #10 thru 100 will probably be tweaking the line, assembly process, and be real intense for the QC people. But, that will give some real numbers and then it should be a matter of scaling. This will be the most important part of Slate for both the company and us, the customer. We will be able to judge how low the price can be and Slate still turn a profit.

 

[AZFox]

The price will be determined by what the company thinks people are willing to pay in the marketplace at the time, not what the truck costs to produce.

 

[Letas]

The price will be determined by what the company thinks people are willing to pay in the marketplace at the time, not what the truck costs to produce.

With the only caveat that Chris has said they intend to be profitable (or cash-flow positive, I forget what word was used) from truck #1- so they won't sell even early models for under cost to produce.

 

[AZFox]

With the only caveat that Chris has said they intend to be profitable (or cash-flow positive, I forget what word was used) from truck #1- so they won't sell even early models for under cost to produce.

I'm not sure what you mean by caveat.

Chris Barman has not said they intend to be profitable from truck #1. What she has said is that they expect to be cash-flow positive by the end of 2027.

Cash flow positive and profitable are not one and the same.

Cash flow means money moving in minus money moving out.

Profit measures earnings after all expenses are recognized, which includes other expenses aside from cost of goods sold.

Regarding what Chris Barman said, I took this to mean incremental cost of building each Blank Slate would be less than revenue from selling that Blank Slate at some time before the ende of '27.

With regard to market equilibrium pricing, unfortunately there's no cost-of-goods-sold caveat.

Cost may determine willingness to sell at a certain price, but the market equilibrium price is ultimately determined by what people are willing to pay, regardless of cost.

Put another way, two identical items have identical market value, even if one of them cost more to produce than the other.

Lucid lost ~$300,000 per vehicle sold in 2024. Ford Lost $130,000 on Every EV It Sold in the First Quarter of that year.
https://www.jalopnik.com/1800321/lucid-boss-quits-loses-300000-on-every-car/
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60621256/ford-ev-revenue-losses-q1-2024/

How do you explain that If cost determines price?

Cost-driving-price is an easy misconception to fall into. Here's the distinction: Cost affects willingness to sell at a price, not market equilibrium price.

Here's my explanation about Slate Truck equilibrium pricing from a post I made a few months back:

Slate will determine what they think the market equilibrium price will be and offer the Truck at or below that price.​

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By "market equilibrium price" I mean the price where the quantity of Trucks the public is willing to buy is equal to the number of Trucks Slate can produce.​

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If they price too high (above market equilibrium), they'll end up with surplus Truck inventory to deal with, which costs money and damages the company's reputation.​

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If the price is below market equilibrium there will be a shortage (quantity demanded will exceed the available supply) and the Truck will be perceived as bargain-priced.​

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IMHO their risk of pricing too high during the first year of production is much greater than their risk of pricing too low, both in the long term and in the short term.​

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No matter what, pricing the Truck at this time would be a mistake because the market conditions that will exist at the time of release are not yet knowable.​

​

 

[KevinRS]

No they aren't going to price the truck now, it's still almost a year before they plan to deliver. Lots of things could change by then, on the production or consumer side. Every company that has set a solid price this far out seems to have ended up increasing that price by launch.
My hope is that at least Mid-20s stays Mid-20s because they were conservative in it, if things go well, maybe they hit what we'd consider low 20s.

 

[RetiredOnPaper]

At least Slate has a presence at CES 2026. Here in Detroit it looks like the Detroit Auto Show 2026 will be nearly an ICE only event. I looked at the venue and NO; Tesla, Rivian, Slate, Telo.
P.S. No surprise here, I'm just sayin'.

 

[GaRailroader]

Here in Detroit it looks like the Detroit Auto Show 2026 will be nearly an ICE only event. I looked at the venue and NO; Tesla, Rivian, Slate, Telo.
P.S. No surprise here, I'm just sayin'.

That has been my experience at the last few auto shows that I went to. I think a lot of them are organized by dealer associations. The one in Atlanta is organized by the Atlanta Automobile Dealers Association so manufacturers without a dealership network aren't represented.

 

[GaRailroader]

It would be nice to see the entire video. I am confused. What is 'Amazon for Automotives'?