Slate Auto
Slate Auto is an American startup company that is developing electric vehicles. It was founded in 2022, and is based in Troy, Michigan. Its investors include Jeff Bezos, Mark Walter, and Thomas Tull.[3] Its first product will be the Slate Truck, an electric pickup truck that can be converted into an SUV. HistorySlate was founded in 2022, and operated in stealth mode until it revealed the Slate Truck on April 24, 2025.[4] It was originally called "Re:Car", as a project within Re:Build Manufacturing, a domestic manufacturing incubator co-founded by Jeff Wilke, the former CEO of Amazon's consumer division. Slate's first several hundred employees include many with experience at Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and Harley-Davidson.[3] The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan; has a design studio in Long Beach, California; and is slated to produce its Truck at a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana,[5] where the company expects a capacity of up to 150,000 vehicles per year.[6] Slate raised at least $111 million in Series A financing, including an undisclosed amount from Bezos. Several other wealthy individuals also invested, including Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Tull, who is a lead investor of Re:Build Manufacturing.[3] General Catalyst, a venture capital firm, and TWG Global, a holding company, also invested in Slate.[7] In mid-2025, the company said it had raised $700 million in its first two rounds of financing, and was conducting a third round (Series C) of financing.[6] VehiclesSlate's first vehicle, a battery-powered pick-up truck, was announced on April 24, 2025. The company expects to price it slightly under $27,500, giving it a net price under $20,000 after federal rebates.[8] The vehicle can be transformed from a truck into a 5-seater SUV through a kit that Slate will sell to customers.[9] As a publicity stunt, Slate parked at least three prototype vehicles on the streets of Venice, Los Angeles, ahead of the official announcement.[10] The vehicles were wrapped with branding for fictitious companies, and resembled a pick-up truck, a "coupe-like" sports utility vehicle (SUV), and a boxier SUV that resembles a Land Rover Defender. The vehicles are non-functional design bucks; images of them were shared widely by journalists and Reddit contributors.[11] Prior to its official announcement, the company had trademarked "Blank Slate" and "We Built It. You Make It."[12] The vehicle has been both called "anti-Tesla"[13][14][15] and "anti-Cybertruck";[16] the name "Slate" has been noted to be an anagram of "Tesla".[17][18] References
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