Thanks. I do know about trailer and truck rentals. That’s what I’d do if I couldn’t get delivery. I’m talking, though, abiout “Yay! I might buy the truck we’re talking about!”
The industry reacted to most U.S. buyers wanting bigger vehicles, with more features (and which, I would bet, are more profitable for the automakers).
Also, FWIW, there are damned few new autos sold in the U.S. – and, as far as I can tell, none from the Big 3 U.S. automakers – that are below $25K. Even Chevrolet, which was long the bastion of entry-level cars, only offers one ICE auto these days (the Malibu, which starts just over $25K). Ford’s only ICE car now is the Mustang. The Big 3 have all leaned into SUVs and pickups, because that’s where the demand (and profit) are, and ceded the auto segment to the imports.
Yeah, i did a quick search and car prices have gone up quite a bit from before covid. Supposedly in 2018 the cheapest new cars in the US were only 12-13k.
I still miss my 1982 Dodge Ram D-50 small pickup truck. I won’t be in the market for a new or newer car anytime soon, but if I was, I’d certainly consider the Slate pickup.
I’d be fine with the basic model, a car is just transportation AFAIAC. Music? My phone, a speaker, and Spotify. Done.
Correcting my error: Chevrolet does, of course, still offer the Corvette, which they don’t even list under the “Cars” section of their website – the Vettes have their own “Performance” section.
And, the Corvette doesn’t, in the slightest, enter the conversation when it comes to affordability and utility.
(Shame on me for forgetting it above; I own a Corvette! Though, I inherited it; I didn’t buy it myself.)
My 2001 Tacoma is almost 25 years young, and I just actively turned 70 - I strongly suspect I’ll need another trucklike object before I leave. I’d be happy with a 10 mile range and no windows at all if I could still wrangle a sheet or two of plywood and a 60 pound bag of Quikcrete home. I don’t do the 80 pound bags anymore…
I wish them luck. It’s an idea that lots of people say they’re interested in. “Just sell me a bare bones car/truck without all those useless extras!” But one problem seems to be that everyone also seems to have one or two must-haves that aren’t quite bare bones… and those one or two things (air conditioning, power windows, navigation, a radio, CarPlay support, etc.) aren’t always the same thing. So people reject them because they don’t have any of that.
Maybe leaning into aftermarket upgrades will work out for them, though. Wraps do seem to be a reasonable way to handle paint (which is really awful to deal with as a vehicle startup).
It was a flop in India as well. According to Wiki, consumers preferred a used car from a name brand rather than something that screamed “car for poor people.”
As a lifelong car nut, I’ve seen this play out over and over: some idealistic company decides to provide a modern “people’s car” to tons of excitement from the press, only to have it fail because it doesn’t have the same amenities as a Rolls-Royce along with the performance of a Porsche, all for the price of a used bicycle. If the US market was interested in reliable, practical, affordable transportation that fit their actual driving habits, the roads would be full of scooters, like the rest of the planet.
Last November I bought a 2012 Scion xB with a 5 speed. Ostensibly it was for my kids since we’re now a 4 (and soon to be) 5 driver household. That plan fell apart when the engine blew up within the first 10 miles.
I’ve finally got it back on the road and completely rehabbed, and I gotta say… it’s not the best car of its type but it’s the best type of car. It was an absolute dream to work on, even with 200k miles and at least some Midwest salt work. Everything was smartly designed with nice enough materials, e.g. no plastic parts that have no business being plastic.
I can probably keep this thing running for the rest of time. Yeah, it’s not electric, and it has like no features. But it’s great at being a car.
Anyway, long story long, I’ve decided I’m just going to enter my old man phase and drive cars like this for the rest of my life. The simple cars that are already out there.
Anecdotal market research: I just told my teenagers (16M, 14F) about it (basically the exact stuff I mentioned in the OP), and they both loved the idea of it. My son for the first time, showed an interest in a vehicle. Then I showed them the website, and my daughter said, “Wow, that’s cute! I love how it looks.” They even loved the “blank slateness” of the inside.
I could see this type of vehicle appealing to younger people, creative people who can customize it, tinkerers, makers, etc. It’s like modern car companies are telling people they can have any color they want, as long as it’s black, white or grey, and has all of these specific options they tell us we have to have. Something like the Slate would be appealing for the customizable options it might offer.
For example, I’ve been looking for a Ford F150 Lightning Pro. A barebones EV for work, but all FoMoCo and the dealers want to do is push on me are the souped up fancy ones. Fuck that, if I could get something like a Slate with a little more payload capacity, I’d be a happy camper.
I bought a first-generation automatic Scion xB new in 2006, have about 140,000 miles on it, and I hope to keep driving it till they take my car keys away from me. It’s cheap to keep, reliable, lives in a garage so it’s shielded from a lot of what a New England winter can do to it, and is tenderly taken care of by an excellent mechanic for its oil changes and whatever else it rarely needs.
I shudder at the thought of ever having to buy a replacement.
air conditioning, power windows, navigation, a radio, CarPlay support
I’d pay the extra for A/C if it weren’t too expensive. Phone->Bluetooth->speaker is fine. I don’t like power windows, use phone navigation, and don’t know what CarPlay is. I’d prefer a stripped-down little pickup as long as its crash stats are okay.
It lets you link an iPhone to the entertainment system of a modern car, letting you play music, use navigation, make hands-free calls, etc. from your phone, via the car’s touchscreen. (I’m fairly sure that there’s an equivalent app for Android phones.)
Also one of the smallest EV SUVs, maybe the smallest. I’ve been looking around trying to find an EV SUV small enough to drive, park, and fit into my garage in San Francisco, and pickings seem very slim.
