GoKawiilSlate Auto opens first showroom in Chicago, takes $300 pre-orders for electric truck
Slate Auto has opened its first physical showroom, the Slate Customer Experience Center, in Chicago's Fulton Market District, located in a former Tesla store and staffed partly by ex-Tesla employees. Visitors can view a prototype of the company's stripped-down electric pickup, customize interior color panels, buy merchandise, and place a $300 deposit to reserve a Slate Truck priced at $24,950 with a projected 205-mile range.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Opening a dedicated retail space suggests Slate is moving from concept-stage buzz toward building the customer-facing infrastructure needed to sell vehicles directly, bypassing traditional dealerships much as Tesla once did. The low starting price and bare-bones features like manual windows indicate an attempt to target buyers priced out of increasingly expensive electric trucks, though actual production timelines and final specs remain unconfirmed.
- Slate's first showroom opened in Chicago's Fulton Market District in a former Tesla store.
- The Slate Truck is priced at $24,950 with a projected 205-mile range and customizable interior panels.
- Customers can reserve a truck with a $300 deposit as the vehicle nears production.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-10-20
Published there as: “Visiting Slate’s first showroom as its $25,000 electric truck nears production”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.