By Ryan Felton | Photography by David Fouts for WSJ

A new automotive startup is betting that Americans are so fed up with high car prices they will consider buying a two-seat, all-electric pickup truck with hand-crank windows and no radio.

Slate Auto, a Michigan-based carmaker backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is racing to begin production later this year of its first model: an overtly spartan, compact truck that will start in the mid-$20,000 range. Trucks like these have been missing from U.S. roads for over a decade.

Car buyers today have only eight new models to choose from under $25,000, with automakers warning that it is difficult, if not impossible, to turn a meaningful profit on such vehicles.

Slate thinks it can buck that trend. "A U.S. automaker can make an affordable vehicle -- and not only an affordable vehicle, but an affordable vehicle that people love," said Peter Faricy, Slate's chief executive.

Faricy said gross margins will be positive for the base truck, and he expects costs to decline further for customers once Slate proves itself to its suppliers .

The company's cost-cutting measures are novel: trading exterior paint for customizable $500 vinyl wraps, offering a dashboard mount for a smartphone instead of a navigation system, and selling a DIY-style add-on kit that transforms the pickup into a five-seat sport-utility vehicle

But will car buyers go for something as austere as Slate's truck -- let alone an electric one?

'I think we have a chance'

Launched in 2022, Slate has raised $1.3 billion from Bezos and firms like TWG Global.

The company came out of hiding in April 2025, positioning itself as a scrappy upstart laser-focused on keeping costs contained. Soon after, it was enveloped in the chaos within the U.S. car industry.

A little over a week after Slate revealed the truck and its anticipated price, President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imported auto parts. By the fall, Congress had eliminated a $7,500 EV tax credit that would have likely brought the truck's price below $20,000.

The startup is a homecoming of sorts for Faricy. Slate's headquarters in Troy, Mich., sits about a hundred yards away from his childhood elementary school. He had stints with Ford Motor before going to Amazon, where he helmed the build-out of Marketplace, which allows third-party sellers to operate on the company's online platform.

Faricy joined Slate in March, succeeding auto-industry veteran Chris Barman as CEO. Barman remains with the company in a different role.

Faricy said he was surprised by parts suppliers charging Slate a "startup tax" because it is new and, therefore, riskier. He knows Slate is an underdog in the rigid car business, where few startups have ever emerged and survived long term. It is a familiar feeling, he said. In his early days at Amazon, in 2009, many outsiders still viewed the now-behemoth as an underdog.

"If we can execute and launch on time and prove this, I think we have a chance to build an enthusiastic customer base," he said.

Faricy said Slate has been built to survive independently of factors such as EV tax credits and to absorb hiccups in the supply chain. "When people ask, are you dependent upon current or future government incentives? The answer is no," he said.

Faricy said that some of Slate's biggest advantages are what it doesn't have: a paint shop for vehicles and a metal-stamping plant, both costly expenses for an automaker. At the company's factory in Warsaw, Ind., which sits on the campus of a former printing press, a robotic system will weld together the body and frame rather than use a metal stamper.

The company debated eliminating many common new-car features to hit its price target and focus on what "actually matters to drivers," said Eric Keipper, Slate's head of engineering. As a result, the truck lacks ambient lighting and adaptive cruise control, which adjusts its speed based on traffic flow. But it comes equipped with standard cruise control and modern safety features such as automatic emergency braking.

Slate went as far as to consider axing air conditioning from the truck to keep costs in check. But customers insisted on that feature, Keipper said. Cooler, or perhaps warmer, heads prevailed: The truck does have air conditioning.

The SUV kit also provides a unique opportunity, Faricy added. Young owners could install the kit if they needed five seats and then flip back to the truck down the line.

A return to small trucks?

The Slate truck is shorter than a Toyota Corolla, making it the tiniest pickup in America by a long shot. It is as long as a Ford Ranger -- from 35 years ago.

Small trucks like the original Ranger and Chevrolet S-10 were popular once but gave way to bigger and more expensive pickups. By 2014, those trucks made up less than 1% of sales, according to data from car-research authority Edmunds.

More recently, however, the segment has shown signs of life with Ford's compact Maverick truck, which starts near $30,000 and offers a 40-miles-per-gallon hybrid option.

Slate's truck boasts a longer bed than the Maverick. But industry analysts say American consumers typically buy something that Slate is not -- specifically, bigger and powered in some fashion by gasoline.

"It feels like a big stretch that this particular vehicle is going to be appealing outside of any niche audience," said Erin Keating, executive analyst at industry-research firm Cox Automotive.

A tough time for EVs

The truck is set to go to market as Americans have shifted away from EVs, after policy and legislative changes goaded automakers to focus on gas-powered vehicles. EV sales were down 20% in May compared with last year, according to data from Motor Intelligence.

Slate's rear-wheel-drive truck will target a range of 150 miles, but a larger battery carrying an additional 90 miles will also be available. The truck will have access to Tesla's robust Supercharger network and will be able to fast-charge from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes, the company said.

For EV-curious buyers, only the Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf come close in price. The Bolt is set to be discontinued next year, and Nissan has pulled its cheapest Leaf variant from the U.S.

Ford said it plans to debut an all-electric four-door pickup with an expected price tag of $30,000. While most details of that truck haven't been disclosed yet, Ford's EV chief, Doug Field, said last year that it wouldn't be "a stripped-down, old-school vehicle" -- widely believed to be a shot at Slate's truck.

Robby DeGraff, an analyst at the research firm AutoPacific, said Slate's two-door, two-seat EV might be a tough sell. "Even if you sell it at that affordable price, yeah, it's appealing, but it's going to be really hard for some people to look at," DeGraff said.

Keeping things simple

Slate plans to sell vehicles to customers directly and bypass the traditional dealership model altogether. The company has more than 160,000 reservations for the truck, it said, and deliveries are set to begin in the fourth quarter.

The truck's final starting price is expected to be unveiled at an event Wednesday. The Autopian, an online automotive publication, reported last week that the Slate truck would start at $24,950. Slate declined to comment on the report.

For now, there is no concrete plan for a second model. But Faricy said any future vehicles would be grounded by Slate's mentality of keeping things simple and affordable. "You're not going to see us launch our second vehicle in the luxury market," he said.

Write to Ryan Felton at ryan.felton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2026 22:00 ET (02:00 GMT)

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