[WheelsAtLarge]

This truck is remining me of the Yugo. When the Yugos were announced people were thrilled about the price. Unfortunately after they were in use people understood why they were so cheap, quality suffered and they were basically disposable cars. Cheap is nice in theory but eventually you wish for something a bit better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo

[germinalphrase]

I actually think it is not cheap enough. Start adding basic, standard features and the price doesn’t look as competitive against legacy manufacturers. Do those manufacturers offer an equivalently cheap EV today? Maybe, but probably not. Though they could, and if they did, Slate is probably toast.

[dtagames]

It seems unlikely they'll be like the Yugo. That car was produced in a low quality factory. This is a modern product from Jeff Bezos that has fewer parts, not just cheap, poorly made parts. Yugo was Yugoslavia's only car manufacturer. Slate competes with all the other US brands so it can't just be total garbage going in. That wouldn't make sense.

[otterley]

Bezos is just an investor; he played little part in its design or engineering.

[dtagames]

Yes, it's a very different environment from the state-run Yugo company that was a product of socialism and never could compete successfully in the market. That's not the situation for Mr. Bezos.

[bicx]

I also wonder if it will develop a negative stigma as a cheap beater truck used in company fleets and such.