Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto has planted a number of idea variations of its EV on the streets of California. It’s a advertising tactic that teases the secretive startup’s technique to promote a “Transformer”-like automobile, folks accustomed to the corporate’s inside discussions advised TechCrunch.
This unconventional real-world tease comes days earlier than Slate’s April 24 launch occasion at Lengthy Seashore Airport, in line with an invitation considered by TechCrunch.
The Michigan-based startup, based in 2022, has operated in relative secrecy till TechCrunch printed a report revealing Bezos’ monetary involvement, in addition to its plan to cost its EV at round $25,000 whereas encouraging consumers to customise the automobile to their liking. That base mannequin is known as the “Clean Slate” model, in line with a trademark utility and one other particular person accustomed to the corporate’s plans. Slate has additionally filed for a trademark for the phrase: “We Constructed It. You Make It.”
The Autopian’s David Tracy traveled to Venice, California over the weekend the place Slate parked an idea model of the truck made to seem like a two-door SUV utilized by a pretend enterprise. Equally, Reddit customers posted footage over the weekend of one more model of the truck made to seem like a hatchback that just about resembles Rivian’s forthcoming R3.
The automobile Tracy noticed up shut this previous weekend appears to be like identical to the two-door pickup truck noticed by a Reddit person earlier this month in Lengthy Seashore, however with a tough cowl over the mattress that offers it extra of an SUV form. The automobile is roofed in a wrap for a pretend enterprise referred to as “Rockabye Rides,” which features a URL that results in a web site that’s counting down to Slate’s occasion later this week.
That makes three totally different silhouettes we’ve seen of Slate’s truck up to now — and that adaptability is one thing the corporate has privately touted because it locked down properly over $100 million in funding, TechCrunch has discovered.
Slate’s management centered closely on the “Transformer” metaphor because it wooed traders to fill out its Sequence B funding spherical final yr, in line with an individual accustomed to the pitches. The corporate rigorously choreographed the conferences across the concept, in line with one other particular person accustomed to how they went.
This concerned exhibiting potential traders a generic model of the truck, after which main them to a different room whereas a group rapidly custom-made the automobile. Then the possible traders could be introduced again to the primary room solely to seek out the truck trying utterly totally different.
These efforts seem to have been convincing. Guggenheim Companions CEO (and controlling proprietor of the LA Dodgers) Mark Walter seemingly invested within the spherical and joined Slate’s board, TechCrunch has reported.
A spokesperson for the corporate didn’t reply to a request for remark.
These new pictures give a fairly clear view of the outside of Slate’s truck, and the potential degree of customization. The inside stays a thriller, and there’s no public information in regards to the automobile’s specs.
The corporate has briefed quite a few automotive journalists forward of Thursday’s occasion, and Tracy wrote that he’s “underneath a strict NDA” on any of the specifics.
Even nonetheless, Tracy wrote that the Slate truck “is in contrast to any new automobile I’ve ever seen not simply in my decade as a automotive journalist, however in my complete lifetime.”
