I'm interested, despite Bezos' involvement, but I'm going to wait until I can read up on what it's like to own one for a while.
That's about how I feel too. Worth considering. My hesitation was reinforced, perhaps unfairly, at a prototype/mockup event. It wasn't very long ago, and prototype had a little too much slap-together feel. I know it was just a prototype, but I was hoping for something that looked a little closer to 'ready for production' if not exactly 'finished'.
New factory, new build methodology, new employees. I'm going to need about a year of consumer feedback, personally. But I'm glad there are more intrepid souls ready to buy now.
Rule of thumb...never buy a new model from a legacy automaker. A new model from a new company? Talk to me in 10 years.
~~Owned~~ directly funded by Bozos who will gain majority the moment it is opportunistic
Such a bummer because its perfect otherwise
I know
Yup. No thanks.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just looked it up and he's just an investor, not the owner.
He's still involved with the company though but I wanted to clear that up so we aren't accidentally spreading misinformation 👍
It'd be surprising if he wasn't a majority investor
Had my attention until realizing this. Don't need to find out this thing has a subscription to unlock the doors or something.
Yep, I expect they wait for success then flip a subscription switch
There’s basically nothing in this vehicle that could have a subscription. It’s pretty barebones
The modular approach is very appealing to me, even though I have little use for a pickup truck. For example, I read that the SUV configuration moves the back glass to the end of the SUV shell when you install it. That makes the SUV top lighter and cheaper.
Oh, that explains why the fastback is more expensive than the squareback. I'd been wondering about that.
There must be a range difference. That's how I'll talk myself into the fastback, not just because it looks cooler.
I'm torn because the fastback looks cooler but it has less cargo capacity (both inside and on the roof rack).
Then again, I also really like the "open air kit" which apparently requires the squareback, so maybe the decision would be easy.
However, this price doesn't include the destination and delivery fee that's baked into the cost of every new vehicle because it has not yet been finalized.
I've always wanted to go electric but the tracking in modern cars was a nonstarter for me. This is a huge step in the right direction, thank you for sharing!
LOL at thinking Bezos isn’t tracking every breath you take in this thing.
Hopefully any tracking would be easy to remove, I mean it doesn't even have a stereo so wiring should be pretty simple, of course unless its baked I to the ECU or something
The telematics module is an optional extra-cost accessory! It doesn't come with it by default!
You have to pay extra to give them free data to mine and sell for profit? What? Why would anyone buy that?
I’m hoping the low price will incentivize jail breaking and hacking these things if needed. We need OSH vehicles (like local motors promised but never delivered). EVs should make it a lot more possible for kit cars to exist, but maybe soon.
The telematics is literally an add-on as others have said. If you must insist on being a smugass, at least be a correct smugass :(
This would be an awesome deal and I would buy one, but... 1) There is no way it will actually be $25K. Low price points are always announced and never met; and 2) This vehicle will be full of spyware collecting all your data to be sold. Yes, Tesla does it to, but I'm not buying a Tesla either.
Have you actually read anything about this truck? It hasn't even got an entertainment console. No GPS tracker. Hell, it doesn't have power windows in the base model. What spyware do you think it has?
Jeff Bezos sits in a small compartment in the front, naked.
He doesnt have to be naked, but he insists upon it anyway
It’s not an entirely analog experience, though; a Slate smartphone app can manage settings, change drive mode, and provide range and charging info. But only when connected locally to the car—there’s no embedded modem, so forget about remote access. And the company says that while it may use data from the app to improve its products, it won’t sell that data.
"We pinky swear that we will not sell any of the massive trove of data we're collecting on you and your driving, especially not to insurance companies."
You don't need the smartphone app at all which you'd know if you had continued to read the article.
Security and privacy are diametrically opposed to convenience. Don't want the app and tracking by the company then just leave the app off your phone. It's not rocket science.
Yes, but the truck wont track your data. An app will, but thats completely optional
So don't install the app? It's not necessary
The Slate does even have speakers. I don't think it'll have network connectivity.
I think it's pretty cool but honestly it's too expensive. It is so minimalistic I doubt many people will want it in it's basic form called the "Blank Slate." Everything is essentially a la carte and many of those upgrades are only available as a kit for the owner to install. For instance, there is no sound system, no power windows, no power mirrors. It's one color. It can't go over 90mph. I like this kind of thing personally, but I think normal car buyers will be a bit upset when they find out all the extras add up to the same price as a Chevy Bolt.
Maybe I'm wrong, but their website makes it seem like whatever add-ons you add at time of purchase they will install for you. I was also under the impression that there's only one stretch of road in the US that has an 85mph speed limit and everything else is lower, so being capped at 90 isn't exactly a problem.
Nah, this is exactly what we want
This looks really promising. I never drive more than 30 miles a day outside of a couple of annual road trips. I’ll have to see a video of what the SUV config looks like as I have kids but this would probably work for my lifestyle. It’s a rarity that I have to drive anywhere outside of my town.
That's my driving pattern too. Probably averaging <5mi since I don't drive most days, but yeah, 30 is as far as I'm likely to go when not on a trip.
You might also want to check out the Telo truck. It's a little more biased toward passenger space. It has 4 doors and a bed in the footprint of a Mini.
I wish the Telo was a bit more modular like the Slate design, with easily replaceable parts. And currently their rear glass is structural, so you can only remove the lower part of that rear partition when you put a shell over the bed, making it less like a normal SUV. I am also a bit more nervous about their viability/capitalization. Will they be around for a decade or more? Hope so, but not sure.
Telo is still vapor.
So now that this thing is coming when do we get the hilux?
The Toyoya Hilux EV is available in most parts of the world, except USA, because of tariffs.
It's not particularly interesting though. The range is short and reviews aren't too positive. I think Toyoya needs to offer something more than a pickup shaped SUV to get a foot down in that market.
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