Jeff Bezos’ Ford Ranger EV Rival Spotted For First Time

As Ford Authority reported yesterday, an upstart company called Slate Auto has been quietly developing a two-seat EV pickup since 2022, one that’s expected to debut with a $25,000 price tag and enter production next year. This particular project isn’t just another fly-by-night company that seems likely to fizzle out in a few years, either – rather, Slate Auto has the backing of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and several other wealthy folks, along with hundreds of employees that came from other automakers – including Ford. Now, this future Ford Ranger EV rival has been spotted for the very first time.

What is this car?
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The small, two-door pickup was seen being offloaded from a shipping container, and captured in a singular photo by someone who then proceeded to post it on Reddit – not knowing exactly what they were looking at. A few others chimed in guessing that it could very well be Slate’s future Ford Ranger EV rival, and not too long after, this was confirmed by TechCrunch, which is the same news outlet that broke the story of this secretive project in the first place.

This particular pickup is believed to be one of the concepts Slate Auto has created to show prospective investors at its design studio in Los Angeles, California, and it’s a rather simple setup – which is by design, given the fact that this is expected to be an affordable, no-frills sort of vehicle. It’s believed that the base model may be referred to as the “Blank Slate,” but Slate Auto is also expected to offer a large array of customization options via a program that may be called “Slate University.” The company also recently filed a trademark for “We Built It. You Make It,” further hinting at that type of strategy.

This new Slate EV pickup is expected to be built at a plant located somewhere near Indianapolis, Indiana starting in 2026, but may face its fair share of competition at the time. A special skunkworks team within Ford has been working on developing a low-cost EV platform set to underpin more than one future model for the past couple of years, and as Ford Authority reported last August, the first is expected to be a mid-size pickup – perhaps one wearing the Ford Ranger badge. Other competition in the segment is expected to come from the likes of Stellantis, Kia, and even Hyundai, via General Motors, too.