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Final Up to date on: eleventh April 2025, 12:06 pm
TechCrunch reported this week that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the monetary drive behind a brand new electrical automobile firm based mostly in Michigan generally known as Slate Auto. It apparently is an offshoot of one other Bezos-funded firm generally known as Re:Construct Manufacturing that has been working in stealth mode because it was founding in 2022. Since then the corporate has has employed lots of of workers who beforehand labored at Ford, Basic Motors, Stellantis, and Harley-Davidson.
Slate Auto expects to start out manufacturing as early as subsequent 12 months, in keeping with a number of sources and paperwork that hyperlink Bezos’ household workplace to the startup. TechCrunch says paperwork it obtained from the Delaware Division of Firms present a number of the monetary backers of the brand new firm embody Mark Walter, the controlling proprietor of the LA Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Companions, and Thomas Tull, who’s a number one investor of Re:Construct Manufacturing.
Getting a brand new manufacturing firm began takes some huge cash and Slate Auto quietly raised $111 million in a Collection A funding spherical in 2023, in keeping with a public submitting. Melinda Lewison, who manages Bezos’ household workplace, is listed as a director on paperwork Slate Auto has filed with varied states and the federal authorities. The submitting reveals 16 individuals invested in that spherical, however it’s is unclear how a lot Bezos himself invested within the firm. The Delaware paperwork additionally lists Walter and Tull as board members. The manufacturing web site is close to Indianapolis, based mostly on job listings and state lobbying data, though it’s unknown presently whether or not manufacturing shall be at an present facility or if the corporate plans to assemble a brand new manufacturing facility.
Slate Auto Enterprise Plan
What sort of automobile is Slate Auto going to start out with? Whereas it’s a competitor to the mighty Hummer EV with 2000 horsepower that’s extra highly effective than a locomotive and is ready to leap tall buildings in a single sure? Will it’s extra just like the Sony/Honda Afeela that options an array of screens for an immersive gaming expertise whereas driving? The reply apparently is not any. What Slate Auto has in thoughts is way extra prosaic and rather more attuned to what EV consumers may very well need.
Name it the anti-Cybertruck if you’ll — a two door electrical pickup truck that begins at round $25,000. That’s in keeping with two sources who have been granted anonymity to talk about the corporate’s inside discussions. Leaders inside the corporate have talked about the Ford Mannequin T and the Volkswagen Beetle as being inspirations for the mission, these sources say. The corporate apparently plans to supply its battery pack, electrical motors, and different associated tech from outdoors suppliers, in keeping with one job itemizing.
A photograph of what could also be a prototype of the Slate Auto pickup truck surfaced on the web lately when Reddit consumer u/discostranger09 posted a photograph to the r/whatisthiscar subreddit. A supply has confirmed to TechCrunch the photograph is in actual fact a automobile Slate Auto has been engaged on and is probably going being proven to traders. The styling of the truck is easy, with a grille much like the Ford Bronco Sport. Some see hints of the Rivian R1T, which ought to come as no shock as Slate’s head of exterior design labored at Rivian briefly earlier than shifting over to Slate. To my eye, the truck is harking back to the Jeep J10/Gladiator pickup truck of 40 years in the past, which was a no nonsense work automobile within the days earlier than vehicles turned standing symbols.
Apparently the advertising and marketing plan is to start out with a fundamental automobile that sells for an inexpensive value that prospects can then upfit to satisfy their wants and wishes. In actual fact, the entry stage model of the truck could also be generally known as the Clean Slate and be related in idea to the Chevrolet W/T and Ford Customized pickup vehicles that include rubber flooring mats and vinyl seats which can be designed for many who put on work boots and denims reasonably than Gucci loafers and Armani fits.
The corporate has filed for a trademark on the phrase “WE BUILT IT. YOU MAKE IT.” and has talked about one thing that feels like a customization program referred to as “Slate College” in job listings. TechCrunch says Slate plans to complement the small margins of its low price fundamental truck by providing a line of equipment and attire that homeowners can use to customise their autos and their appears to be like. It has crammed its government ranks with former Harley-Davidson and Stellantis workers. These firms have traditionally constructed worthwhile ancillary companies that characteristic attire within the case of Harley-Davidson, and excessive efficiency aftermarket elements within the case of Stellantis with its MoPar division.
Automotive Veterans At The Helm
The manager chairman of Slate Auto is Rodney Copes, who spent 20 years at Harley-Davidson. Chief Monetary Officer Ryan Inexperienced spent almost a decade at Harley-Davidson as properly. The heads of service, industrial, equipment product administration, and progress advertising and marketing are also Harley-Davidson veterans., Slate’s CEO is Christine Barman, a longtime Chrysler veteran. For the previous 10 years, she has been advising firms on rising tech and instructing engineering earlier than getting concerned in 2022 with Re:Construct Manufacturing.
Amazon veterans are discovered at each stage of the brand new firm. Slate Auto started as a mission referred to as Re:Automotive in early 2022 inside Re:Construct Manufacturing, a home manufacturing incubator of types co-founded by former Amazon Shopper CEO Jeff Wilke and his MIT Leaders for International Operations classmate Miles Arnone. A number of very long time Amazon executives, together with Wei Gao, who was a high VP and technical adviser to Bezos, are actually at Re:Construct Manufacturing. The heads of Slate’s digital, e-commerce, and automotive expertise departments are additionally Amazon veterans.
Slate Auto is following the mannequin that has confirmed so profitable for a lot of Japanese and Korean automakers by providing an inexpensive automobile first and shifting up market later. Who would have ever thought that the crap can automobiles that Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai began with would ever result in these firms being a number of the largest car producers on this planet? Slate Auto goes after what it hopes shall be a purchaser’s “first automobile,” in keeping with the individuals who spoke with TechCrunch. The thought is to promote the truck at a value level of round $25,000, and have homeowners personalize or improve the automobile over time as they will afford to.
