$25,000 bare-bones EV pickup truck will be profitable

LOS ANGELES — Electric vehicle startup Slate Auto expects to defy challenging market conditions and avoid the losses its peers have seen by profitably selling a highly customizable EV that starts at just under $25,000.

Slate CEO Peter Faricy said every vehicle produced by the Michigan-based EV startup — which is backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter — will be gross margin positive. That will lead the company to positive free cash flow and earnings before taxes, depreciation, and amortization by 2027, he said.

“It’s an ambitious goal,” Faricy told CNBC during an interview at the company’s new design studio outside of Los Angeles. “No other automotive company has been able to do that before. So it’s ambitious. It’s going to take a lot of work. Nothing’s guaranteed in life, but you have to have ambitious goals if you want to achieve big things. That’s the big goal we’re shooting for.”

Other recent EV startups have struggled financially. Automakers such as Lordstown Motors and Fisker Automotive went bankrupt, while Rivian Automotive and Lucid Motors have reported billions of dollars in annual losses and both recently announced layoffs. 

Faricy, former vice president of Amazon Marketplace who was appointed to lead the automaker in March, said the company can succeed where others have failed because of its simplistic product, customer-focused business strategy and break-even point of roughly 80,000 vehicles a year.

The break-even point is just over half of the 150,000-unit production capacity the company plans to have at its assembly plant in Warsaw, Indiana. Slate is continuing to build out that facility while also producing prototype vehicles.

“We have a different cost structure and a different business model than other automakers have,” he said, citing the simplicity of Slate’s vehicle and manufacturing process as well as the ability to customize the EVs.

Slate’s flagship product is a two-seat, $24,950 bare-bones electric pickup truck that’s so basic the speakers are optional and it has crank windows. The truck can be converted into a five-passenger sport utility vehicle for an additional $5,000. The vehicles will feature a Slate-estimated EV range of 205 miles, 181 horsepower and 195 foot-pounds of torque. 

Its performance pales compared with much pricier electric pickups and SUVs but is in line with similarly priced vehicles.

Slate was in stealth mode until the company revealed its flagship EV in April 2025. It said then that its initial starting price would be under $20,000, but that included up to $7,500 in federal tax incentives that were available at the time for purchasing an EV and have since been discontinued.

The startup has raised more than $1.3 billion in capital through three financing rounds, two of which were led by Walter’s TWG Global investment holding company after a Bezos-affiliated lead round. 

Faricy declined to discuss Slate’s capital runway but confirmed the company is continuing to opportunistically raise funding as it prepares to produce vehicles for consumers later this year and ramp up production, with deliveries expected during the fourth quarter. 

He didn’t rule out the possibility of Slate going public, but said it would likely be too early to do that before the company ramps up production next year.

“We’re going to constantly take a look at what our options are. Certainly going public will be one,” said Faricy, who was recruited to the company by Slate co-founder and fellow Amazon executive Jeff Wilke. “2027 is probably too soon, in my book. I think we’ll want to really make sure that we’re launching and scaling the business well.”

Slate has received more than 180,000 reservations for its vehicles and is officially opening up preorders on Wednesday. The reservations required refundable $50 deposits, but the orders will come with $300 nonrefundable down payments. 

Slate President of Vehicles Chris Barman, who was the company’s second employee and initial CEO, said current expectations are for the SUV to represent 60% of sales, despite the pickup being the base model at roughly $25,000. The starting price is roughly half the cost of a new vehicle sold, according to Cox Automotive data.

Faricy commended Barman for her leadership as a “world-class automotive executive,” and confirmed he’s there to use his background in consumer retail and in the automotive industry before Amazon to take the company to its next step. 

“Companies have different life stages, and we’re now at the stage as we launch production where we’re sort of going into the next phase of our life,” he said. “I’m thrilled to join because a lot of the skills that I bring are complementary to the team that exists.”

When Slate revealed its vehicle as “a radically simple, radically affordable, radically personalizable car” in April 2025, more than three years had passed since Barman and Eric Keipper, an auto veteran and Slate’s head of engineering, first developed the road map for the EV’s development. 

The vehicles have injection-molded composite exteriors and a litany of do-it-yourself options. The plan is for every vehicle coming off the line to be the same to reduce complexity, before the addition of any features or different covers/tops such as fastback or squared-off to look similar to a Jeep Wrangler SUV.

Auto executives have tossed around the idea for such a modular, stripped-down vehicle as the industry has seen a rise of connectivity and affordability concerns, but so far the challenges have outweighed the potential opportunities, or companies have struggled to keep prices low. 

Slate’s vehicle does not feature any “connectivity” such as a modem or large screens, just a small driver information screen for range, speed and other standard gauges and warnings. Instead of a center infotainment system, drivers can use their own devices, such as a smartphone or tablet, for navigation and music. 

The exteriors of the Slate vehicles won’t be painted. The company said they were engineered to be wrapped with a vinyl film, eliminating the need for a costly paint shop — a massive investment for automakers.

Slate is offering more than 100 standard wrap colors for under $500, but customers also can essentially pick any color or design they can imagine. The vehicle also will launch with more than 175 accessories, with over 80% of those priced under $500, including roof racks, stereos and light covers.

“Whoever you are and whatever you like in life, you can now express that through your SUV or through your truck,” said Faricy, who added that the Slate vehicle he wants is a metallic black fastback SUV. “I can’t wait to create that vehicle.”

The company continues to build the vehicles by hand, along with some factory automation, according to Dan Tasiemski, Slate’s head of manufacturing engineering. Slate is aiming to begin operating the factory through its normal production processes by August, he said. 

Slate, which Tasiemski said is building about three vehicles a day, still needs to go through required federal vehicle validation and certification for things such as range, safety and other aspects.

In addition to challenging market conditions for EVs, Slate’s product is a unicorn — for better or worse. 

The modularity of the vehicle is unique and so is its two-door body style. It will be the only pickup truck or SUV on sale in the U.S. to exclusively offer such a variant without also offering four-door models. 

Ford reports only 10% of its Bronco SUV models sold last year were two-door variants. Many small pickup trucks such as the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz exclusively offer four-door models.

Slate has not ruled out the addition of four-door models, but its sole focus is on the two-door pickup and SUVs, according to executives.

It’s also exclusively a rear-wheel drive vehicle compared with four-by-four capability or all-wheel drive. 

Slate is expected to compete against a growing segment of small gas-powered and electric pickup trucks. Most notably, Ford has bet its future EVs on a new affordable platform, beginning next year with a pickup truck. Stellantis’ Ram brand also plans to launch new compact and midsize pickup trucks in the coming years.

Slate plans to deliver its vehicle directly to customers rather than through franchised dealers, which also presents challenges and opportunities for the company, based on similar experiences from U.S. EV leader Tesla, Rivian and others.

“I think it’s an important part,” Faricy said, adding that he thinks it will lead to lower costs and better control over the customer experience. “We’re definitely going to be a direct-to-consumer company.”