Image via Slate
The Slate truck, a bare-bones EV with plenty of customization options, debuted in late April and already has over 100,000 reservations. That’s not a bad start for a new automaker with zero reputation or market pull. But as we always say in this business, reservations don’t mean squat.
A Corvette pioneer recently passed away.
After all, as Business Insider points out in its report, 250,000 reservations were logged for the Tesla Cybertruck when it was unveiled in 2019. But here we are with only about 50,000 delivered to customers as demand reportedly has imploded.
Back when Tesla was bragging about all those reservations we were saying they don’t count. And we’ve said that with other vehicle launches. A reservation requires little and they often don’t translate into completed sales.
Plus, with Slate, there are probably a lot of people waiting to see what the first wave of owners experience with the brand and the truck. We think that’s been a factor with the Cybertruck and even more traditional pickups like the Ford Maverick.
As horror stories about Cybertruck owners getting sliced up on their stainless steel body panels or having issues with the frunk lid that puts the pickup into limp mode mount, we think that’s hurt demand from the second wave customers who were holding back.
With the Maverick, people have been waiting in the wings to see if Ford would deliver on its promises. A higher price tag and other disappointments have led to some would-be-interested parties looking at other options.
The big question here is can Slate stick the landing? It’s promising a starting price of about $25,000 and with federal EV incentives that means it would cost consumers under $20,000, which sounds amazing. But if it pulls a Ford and the actual price is closer to $40,000, a lot of people are going to just forget about the truck.
Others are going to want to see how the Slate build quality is or see if new owners have a lot of problems with their ride. If people who buy hem are happy with the pickups, they’ll tell others and word will spread like crazy. That, combined with a potentially low price, could mean the Slate would sell like hotcakes.
With deliveries starting late next year, we don’t have long to see just how well this new automaker does. This could end up being history in the making, or yet another failed attempt to crack the market. After all, EV startups failing has become almost a weekly occurrence lately.
Images via Slate
