Jeff Bezos supported by Slate Auto has planted multiple versions of EV ideas on the streets of California. It is a marketing tactic that teases the strategy of secret start to sell a “transformer” vehicle, people who are familiar with the company’s internal discussions, he told TechCrunch.
This unusual real world teasing comes days before the Slate’s launch on April 24 at the Long Beach Airport, according to an invitation from TechCrunch.
The Michigan -based start -up, founded in 2022, worked in relative secrecy until TechCrunch published a report that reveals Bezos’s financial participation, as well as its plan for the price of EV at about $ 25,000, encouraging buyers to customize their vehicle. This basic model is referred to as a “blank slate” version, according to one trademark and another person familiar with the company’s plans. Slate has also deposited for a trademark For the phrase: “We built it.
David Tracy of Self -Self tired In Venice, California, on the weekend, where the plaque parked a concept of the version of the truck made to look like two SUV doors used by a fake business. Similarly, Reddit users posted photos of the weekend another truck version Made to look like a hatchback that almost resembles Rivian’s upcoming R3.
The Tracy vehicle saw closing this last weekend just like the two -tone truck found by a Reddit user earlier this month in Long Beach, but a hard coverage over the bed that gives him more SUV shape. The vehicle is covered in a wrapper for a false business called “Rockabye Rides”, which includes a URL leading to a website that is counting For the Slate event later this week.
This makes three different silhouettes that we have seen so far the Slate’s truck – and that adaptability is something that the company has been privacy, as more than $ 100 million was locked in funding, TechCrunch has learned.
Slate’s leadership focused largely on the transfer of “Transformer”, as it threw investors to complete the B -funding round last year, according to a person familiar with the stadiums. The company carefully choreographed the meetings around the idea, according to another person familiar with how they went.
This included the appearance of future investors a general version of the truck and then led them to another room, while one group was quickly adjusted to the vehicle. Then, prospective investors will return to the first room only to find the truck that seems completely different.
These efforts seem to be convincing. Guggenheim Partners (and La Dodgers owner), Mark Walter apparently invested in the round and joined the Slate’s board, TechCrunch said.
A company representative did not respond to a request for comments.
These new photos give a fairly clear image of the Slate’s external truck and the possible level of adjustment. The interior remains a mystery and there is no public knowledge of the vehicle specifications.
The company has informed a number of car journalists before Thursday’s event and Tracy wrote that it is “under a strict NDA” in any of the details.
Still, Tracy wrote that the slate truck “is in contrast to any new vehicle I have ever seen not only in my decade as a car journalist, but all my life.”
