Tiny, old trucks are having a moment online.
Scroll for long enough, and you’ll find drivers fantasizing about a simpler time: when truck interiors had fewer screens and didn’t attempt to cosplay as a luxury condo.
That nostalgia has created some surprising internet stars. Kei trucks — the tiny, slow pickups from Japan that shoppers can import into the US if they’re more than 25 years old — have amassed cult followings through social media fan pages. The same goes for decades-old American subcompact trucks like the ’90s-era Ford Rangers, Chevy S-10s, and Toyota Tacomas.
But while the small pickups generate a ton of online hype, there are only two cute-utes that still have that fresh car smell: the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz (and the Hyundai is reportedly not long for this world).
That’s where Slate sees an opening.
The Jeff Bezos-backed startup told Business Insider this week that its tiny electric pickup will start at $24,950. The company’s bet: they can turn a profit by building for the forgotten customers who don’t want a giant truck with a giant screen and a giant monthly payment.
Low price, few amenities
Slate has the proportions of the small trucks that car internet keeps romanticizing.
It stretches just 14.6 feet from bumper to bumper. That’s a foot shorter than the ’90s-era Ford Ranger — and three feet shorter than the 2026 Ford Ranger.
Its spec sheet has throwback energy, too.
To lower the base price, Slate stripped out features that have become standard in modern American cars. The base truck has manual crank windows, two doors, two seats, no infotainment screen, and no speakers for music.
Executives even debated whether to include air conditioning before ultimately deciding to add it to the production vehicle.
For some old-school car lovers, that could be part of the appeal. Slate is not making a consumer-AI pitch, wading into the endless fights over Apple CarPlay’s inclusion, or turning climate controls into a digital touchscreen maze. Drivers control the fan speed with analog buttons and dials.
Instead, shoppers can add more to their trucks after it’s delivered through Slate’s accessories catalog. That includes everything from SUV and second-row seat kits to $50 door-mounted armrests.
Do Americans even want cheaper cars?
Despite the internet’s obsession with little trucks and Slate’s low pricing bet, data suggests Americans are not exactly punishing automakers for the lack of affordable new-car options.
The average transaction price for a new vehicle was $50,900 this spring, up 3.3% since December, according to CarGurus data shared with Business Insider. The firm said there are now more vehicles on dealer lots priced above $50,000 than below $35,000.
And Americans keep scooping up big, expensive cars quickly. The $122,000 Cadillac Escalade and the $84,000 Toyota Sequoia spend an average of 30 days on dealership lots before finding a buyer, CarGurus said. The industry average is normally about 60 days.
So far, high prices have not slowed industry-wide demand.
On Friday, JD Power and GlobalData released their monthly US sales forecast. They expect Americans to buy more than 1.3 million new vehicles in June, a 3.6% increase from the same month last year.
We nearly had other cheap EVs…
Slate is walking into a market that giant automakers have repeatedly tried to crack.
For years, car companies have teased lower-cost EVs that could bring electric driving to more American buyers. Tesla’s long-promised $25,000 car never became the clean-sheet vehicle Elon Musk once described. Nissan planned a less expensive version of its new Leaf, then dropped that trim after launch. Chevrolet brought back the sub-$30,000 Bolt, but it’s a limited-time return. Volvo targeted a $35,000 base price for the EX30, then raised prices after tariff pressure. It discontinued the model in March.
And while few car companies have made a cheap new EV, even fewer have turned a profit on their electric cars. Legacy automakers have made billion-dollar write-downs after demand fell short of expectations.
Slate says it can avoid that trap. The company told CNBC that every truck it sells will be profitable from the start. It also told Business Insider that more than 10,000 people placed nonrefundable $300 preorders in the first four hours after its website opened, before any of them had the chance to test-drive the truck.
There are still potential competitors coming for Slate. Ford is working on a lower-cost EV platform that could eventually produce a truck (with automatic windows, no less) in Slate’s pricing neighborhood. Rivian’s smaller R3 could also move the company closer to the mid-$30,000 range, though that vehicle is still years away.
That leaves Slate in a lonely position. It is not the only company chasing a cheaper EV, but it’s the only one that’s confident it’ll make money immediately.
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