Bezos -supported startup designs EV that can change as a “transformer”

The Jeff Bezos Slate Auto supported has planted many conceptual versions of its EV on the streets of California. This is a marketing tactic that annoys the secret -starting strategy for selling a vehicle similar to a “transformer”, people familiar with the company’s internal discussions said, TechCrunch said.

This unconventional teaser in the real world comes days before Slate 24 launched at Long Beach Airport, according to an invitation viewed by TechCrunch.

Michigan -based startup, founded in 2022, has worked in a relative secret to TechCrunch publishes a report revealing Bezos’s financial participationAs well as his plan to appreciate EV to about $ 25,000, while encouraging buyers to customize the vehicle to their liking. This basic model is called the “empty slate” version according to a Trademark application And another person familiar with the company’s plans. Slate has also applied for a trademark About the phrase: “We built it. You do it.”

David Tracy on Autopiana travel To Venice, California over the weekend, where Slate parks a conceptual version of a truck made to look like a two -door SUV used by a fake business. Similarly, Reddit users posted photos on the weekend of Another Truck made to look like a hatchback that almost looks like Rivian’s forthcoming r3S

The vehicle Tracey has seen closely over the weekend looks just like a two -door pickup, spotted by Reddit user earlier this month in Long Beach, but with a hard lid over the bed, which gives it more than SUV shape. The vehicle is covered with a fake business sheath called “Rockabye Rides”, which includes a URL that leads to a website that is countdown Until Slate’s event later this week.

This makes three different silhouettes we’ve seen about Slate’s truck so far – and that adaptability is something that the company has advertised privately because it has locked well over $ 100 million in funding, TechCrunch has learned.

Slate’s management focuses on the Transformer metaphor, as last year he was courting investors to fill in Serie B funding, according to a person familiar with the pitch. The company carefully choreograms the meetings around the idea, according to another person familiar with how they went.

This included showing future investors a common version of the truck and then led them to another room while a team quickly customized the vehicle. Then future investors will be returned to the first room just to find the truck look completely different.

These efforts seem to have been convincing. Guggenheim Partners CEO (and controlling La Dodgers) Mark Walter, who at first glance invests in the circle and joined the Slate board, TechCrunch has reportedS

A company spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

These new photos give a very clear look at the exterior of the Slate truck and the potential level of customization. The interior remains a mystery and has no public knowledge of the specifications of the car.

The company informed a number of car journalists before the event on Thursday, and Tracy wrote that it was “under a strict NDA” on any of the specifics.

Even Tracy wrote that the shale truck “is unlike any new vehicle that I have ever seen not only in my decade as a car journalist, but throughout my life.”