Jeff Bezos Slate Auto planted many EV concept versions on the streets of California. It is a marketing tactic that teases the secret startup technique to sell a vehicle much like a “transformer”, individuals who know the internal discussions of the company informed TechCrunch.
This unconventional teasing in the real world appears a few days before the event of the release of Slate on April 24 at Long Beach airport, as invited by TechCrunch.
The startup from Michigan, founded in 2022, acted in a relative secret until TechCrunch published a report revealing the financial involvement of Bezos, in addition to the EV valuation plan for around USD 25,000, encouraging buyers to adapt the vehicle to their preferences. This basic model is known as the “empty slate” version, in response to Trademark application And one other one that knows the company’s plans. The slate has also submitted an application for trademark In the event of an expression: “We built it. You do it.”
David Tracy from Autopane experienced In Venice, California at the weekend, in which Slate parked the conceptual version of the truck, which will look like a two -door SUV used by a false business. Similarly, Reddit users published photos at the weekend Truck version Looking like a hatchback, which almost resembles the upcoming R3 Rivian.
The Tracy vehicle saw up close last weekend looks like a two-door van noticed by Reddit at the starting of this month on Long Beach, but with a hard cover above the bed, which gives him more SUV shape. The vehicle is covered with packaging for a fake business called “Rockaby Rides”, which comprises the URL, which results in the website Deduction for the Slate event this week.
This makes three different silhouettes that we have seen in Slate’s truck so far – and that the adaptation ability is something that the company advertised privately, when it closed over $ 100 million of financing, TechCrunch learned.
According to the person familiar with The Pitches, Slate’s management focused strongly on the metaphor of the “transformer” because he stopped investors to fill in the funds financing round last 12 months. According to a different one that was found, the company rigorously choreographed meetings around this concept.
This included showing potential investors a general version of the truck, and then make them one other room while the team quickly adapted the vehicle. Then potential investors might be delivered to the first room simply to state that the truck looks completely different.
It seems that these efforts were convincing. TechCrunch reports that the general director of Guggenheim Partners (and the owner controlling the owner of La Dodgers) apparently invested in a round and joined the Slate board.
The company spokesman didn’t answer the request for comment.
These recent photos give a quite clear view of the Slate truck and the potential level of adjustment. The interior stays a mystery and there is no public knowledge about the specifications of the vehicle.
The company informed many automotive journalists before the Thursday event, and Tracy wrote that it was “under the strict NDA” based on any detail.
Despite this, Tracy wrote that the shale truck “does not resemble any new vehicle I have ever seen not only in my decade as a car journalist, but all my life.”