For the last few weeks, we’ve been running a sidebar survey about whether Electrek readers believed the announcement of Ford’s upcoming, all-electric $30,000 Fathom pickup would sink Bezos-backed startup Slate Auto before it even got to set sail. After nearly 2,700 responses, here’s what you told us.
In case you missed the survey, the question read, “Now that we know the Ford Fathom electric truck will be just a few thousand dollars more than the bare-bones Slate, is the writing already on the wall? In other words: did Ford’s Fathom just kill the Slate before it arrived?”
Here’s what the responses were, by the numbers, before we get into the nuance – and, believe me when I tell you that there was a lot of nuance!
By the numbers
The majority of responders were non-committal, choosing either the, “Maybe – but every penny counts for some buyers, and a few thousand dollars is a LOT of pennies!” or the, “Too soon to say – neither truck is even out, yet!” options. Those were the sensible people.
Despite finding themselves in the minority, however, the more presumptive, dramatic, opinionated, and interesting people had a lot to say – including one commenter going by NickD, who seemed to be pretty confident that the Ford’s biggest assumed advantage (its nationwide dealer network) would ultimately be more of a handicap than an asset.
Ford’s dealer network will be all too happy to sabotage the Fathom through ridiculous markups and terrible sales experience. Slate has an opening to exploit for that reason alone.
Nick wasn’t alone. Another commenter going by Scott Z echo’ed his take, even going so far as to call dealers “a large anchor” before adding that he’s found ways to avoid dealerships while car shopping for nearly two decades.
Ford has a large anchor around its neck. It is called Dealerships. They suck and almost everyone agrees. Paying a middleman for nothing is not fun for most, except those that get excited from haggling with those that produce no value. That is why for the last 20 years when I wanted a vehicle I went to companies like Carmax or to Tesla and Rivian.
Still, one of the sentiments that reverberated the most with me didn’t do so by pointing out the differences between the Fathom and the Slate trucks themselves, or even their go to market strategies. Instead, it was a comment from regular Electrek commenter, Mrvc, who highlighted the spiritual similarities between the Slate Auto pickup and the iconic Model T Ford.
The thing that keeps coming to my mind is Ford claiming they want to have a model t moment. Yet slate basically built a modern model t. One color, very user customizable to meet their or their business needs. Local service that isn’t franchised with high end-user repairability.
The more I hear from the slate people the more I see they have a plan, see the big picture others don’t, and can succeed. They want to reduce prices as their costs come down. I can’t see Ford doing that. Ford likes to increase prices every year. In a few years I can see the difference in price will be enough it won’t be question for anyone. But still if someone wants every single piece of tech or creature features slate probably won’t be for them.
Another regular commenter, Mark Horning, built on Mrvc’s take, but evoked another iconic name from Ford’s 120-plus year history: the Falcon.
I’ve said it before, but this is Ford’s “Falcon” moment. Ford built Falcons in 2-door, 4-door, wagon, ranchero configurations. And they sold over a million in the first 2 years.
All that said, it was Username Taycan, I think, who ultimately said it best – because, if the buzz around the Slate proved that there was, indeed, a market for an affordable, back-to-basics EV in the US, the Fathom doesn’t actually have to be a better truck the Slate, or outperform it, or even outsell it to be a problem.
The first problem for Slate isn’t how good the fathom is if it ever arrives, it’s the chilling effect that the idea that there is a Fathom coming has on Slate orders.
Indeed, all Ford’s announcement really has to do is plant a seed. “I’d love to buy a Slate,” you might be thinking, “but I want to see what the Fathom is all about before I pull the trigger,” and after Ford’s own CEO, Jim Farley, cooked a generation of the company’s EVs and cost the brand billions of R&D dollars by convincing everyone to wait for the NACS version, no one knows how much damage that kind of waiting game can do better than Ford.
Original content from Electrek.
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