When Slate Auto, a start-up, revealed a roughly $ 25,000 electric pick-up last month, social media relieved with comments. Many people saw the vehicle without French, with an easy -to -restoring body and nostalgic hand stool windows, as a refreshing antidote for the overcrowded and always priceless cars of today.
How priceless? Average monthly payments on new cars have risen to $ 739 in March from $ 537 in January 2019, according to Cox Automotive. The average new car costs $ 47,400, with electric models around $ 59,200. High interest rates, now around 9.4 percent for a loan of 72 months, have made cars even more a financial piece.
“Prices and interest rates are both high and hold,” says Mark Schirmer, director of the industry insights for Cox Automotive. “If you are no longer on the market since 2018, it must be shocking what a car costs.”
President Trump's rates of 25 percent on imported cars and components have consumers clarified before prices rise even more. Cars that cost less than $ 30,000 are particularly vulnerable – almost 80 percent of them are subject to rates. They include staples from consumers such as the American -made Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, which depend on imported parts. The supplies of budget models are expected to shrink and car manufacturers can stop importing certain models.
Enter Slate, a company based in the suburbs of Detroit, supported by risk capital companies and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
Chris Barman, a former Fiat Chrysler-Engineer and the Chief Executive of Slate, said that the Slate Truck was explicitly designed to illuminate the sticker shock, although it will not be available until the end of 2026. The company is planning to produce the pint-size truck in a reversed printing factory, with a packed printing factory, with a packed printing factory.
True to his name, the truck is designed as an empty slate to which buyers can add more than 100 accessories, such as electric windows and heated seats, because their budgets allow or have to be changed. There is no built-in stereo or touchscreen display, but there are docks for phones or tablets, saving money and avoid digital aging that often teases auto-entertainment and navigation systems.
“We think that hard -working Americans are looking for a good price for the money,” said Mrs. Barman in a recent interview.
That message appealed to Liv Leigh, 41, who jumped into a Lei Truck during his public debut in the Long Beach Airport in California in April. Mrs. Leigh, a biomedical designer and enthusiastic for electric car, paid $ 50 to reserve a slate.
She saw the employees of the company transform the pick-up with two seats into a sports vehicle with five passengers in about an hour, with a smart conversation kit focused on do-it-yourself owners. Mrs. Leigh appreciated the neat size of the truck, shorter than a Civic and the modest reach of 150 miles.
“I love the idea of an absolute base, beater truck, where I can put a dog or muddy cycling or plywood in the back,” said Mrs. Leigh. “I don't need a huge vehicle to drag things.”
Mrs Barman said that efficient design and production were the key to the promised low prices of the company. The gray plastic plastic plastic body panels of the truck eliminate any need for a steel body voice plant or paint shop, which can cost car manufacturers many millions of dollars.
Where a Ford model T, a egalitarian car from another era, was famous in black, slate vinyl body will offer wraps in a series of colors and styles. Buyers can also opt for a larger, installed battery from the factory with a range of 240 miles.
“That all keeps the costs low, but also feeds on giving customers,” said Mrs. Barman. “They can rest the vehicle the way they want it, not the way a manufacturer designed it.”
Slate hopes that a Supply Chain, including batteries made in the US by SK ON, a South Korean company, will be eligible for a federal tax credit of $ 7,500. Republican legislators released a budget law on Monday that would eliminate the stimulus and dismantle other climate and energy policy for Biden era.
That all depends on Slate's successfully navigating through a treacherous path for startups for electric vehicles. Various young car manufacturers, including Fisker, Nikola and Canoo, have searched and closed bankruptcy protection.
With or without subsidies, Slate has a feasible business plan, said Mrs. Barman.
The company hopes to praise its truck in the middle of $ 20,000 before the government stimuli, which would undermine the Nissan magazine, that the most affordable electric car is for $ 29,300 but no longer qualifies for tax credits. Chevrolet is planning to offer a redesigned Bolt SUV for around $ 30,000 by the year. The General Motors brand plans to qualify for the tax credit and to drop its effective price to around $ 22,500.
Erin Keating, the executive analyst of Cox Automotive, praised the ingenuity of the Slate Truck. But she said that a pick-up with two seats, short distance and a bare interior may not appeal to American car buyers who have become accustomed to having a lot of technical and creature.
“There is nothing wrong with trying to crack the affordability crisis, but I don't see this as a huge volume buyer,” said Mrs. Keating. “Ultimately, this is an extremely small EV with almost nothing in it, in a market with a growing number of affordable choices with much longer reach.”
The Ford Maverick is a potential rival that can argue for or against the prospects of Slate. That compact pick -up is two feet longer than the slate. It offers space for five passengers and offers many more functions. A hybrid version can reach 40 miles per gallon and travel more than 500 miles on a full tank.
Ford sold 131,000 Mavericks last year, which suggests that there is a strong demand for small, energy -efficient trucks. Since 2024, the company has increased the starting price of the hybrid version of the truck by $ 4,200 to $ 28,150, including an increase last week that Ford Motor recognized, partly a response on the truck, which is assembled in Mexico. The company said that it would not spend the full costs of the rates to customers and offer all his cars for the same price that it sells to employees until the beginning of July.
As much as every vehicle category, America's pick -up trucks embodies how cars have changed in recent decades, usually by becoming larger, more powerful and much more expensive. Some lush pickups can cost as much as large European luxury sedans. Electric trucks from Tesla, Rivianus and Ford vary from $ 70,000 to more than $ 100,000.
Mrs Barman sees a market opening for entry truck fans, families who shop for a second car, empty litterers and companies such as landscapes, contractors and delivery people. The company expects to sell many trucks to people who would otherwise buy a used car, the average price of which is $ 26,000.
A big challenge for Slate, or other companies that hope to sell more affordable cars, is that, despite what they say they want, many Americans don't seem to buy such cars.
Mrs. Keating noted that about two dozen models on the market start with less than $ 25,000. They are all small cars or SUVs, including the approval car from the market, the $ 18,300 Nissan Versa.
Almost every medium -sized Sedan family starts with less than $ 30,000, including the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata. But many Americans have rejected those cars in favor of larger vehicles. SUVs, pickups and minibuses are now good for more than 80 percent of the market.
Mr. Trump's trade policy remains a wildcard. Analysts expect rates to add thousands of dollars to the prices of new cars and increase demand and prices for used cars.
Americans bought 1.5 million new cars in April, 400,000 more than in April 2024. But analysts said people now bought to prevent them from being harshly. Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist of Cox Automotive, said that the stocks in new cars in two years had fallen to their lowest levels, which suggests that prices could rise because dealers no longer had cars before the rates came into force. S&P Global Mobility, another research agency, has reduced its prediction for the sale of new cars and now expects them to fall by 4 percent this year.
For people looking for a safe haven in a financial storm, electric cars are a smart choice, said Mrs. Keating. Between the government's incentives and automaker, an average of 13.3 percent in March became 13.3 percent in March, a saving of almost $ 8,000.
Mrs. Leigh recently rented a Chevrolet Equinox for two years and paid $ 5,500 in advance, which amounts to a monthly payment of $ 230. The electric SUV has a driving range of 319 miles. “Some people don't realize how many incentives there are,” she said.
