Slate Truck Methodology
- Thread starter zowbud
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I was going to say. I don’t understand what’s going on here. I’m here on this forum for a Scout. If I wanted something like a Slate I would be on the Slate forum.
The bold text is the link to the article.
It is a very compelling read, honestly. It’s a lot of the things that I think were so appealing about the original Scout 80/800 in terms of versatility (do you want it to become an SUV? Throw a cap on it. Add seats and airbags and do it yourself. Also, it’s cheap). What’s not appealing to me is that Jeff Bezos is attached to this. I’m not really into the idea that even more of all the wealth in the US getting shared among a handful of guys. As much as I like this, I’ll wait until someone else co-opts this idea. I would love a $25,000 Scout. This sounds conceptually way less lame than a used car or a sedan and more like something that I could own on my own and not have to share with another person in order to own it. My life involves making decisions like “do I have what I want or do I eat and pay my bills?” so yeah, this is an appealing option. I’d rather have a Scout because I deserve nice things after losing my husband, left boob, career, and my dad, but as a dirty poor, this sounds good.
Oh Scoutsie you deserve all the good things in life!
Thank you, fellow Scout coven member. 
There’s an interesting thread on Reddit about this, too.
With on how much Slate is being talked about here, might as well change the forums name lol.
Hopefully Scout will take the good ideas from the Slate concept and make them their own (simplicity and price being key. The fewer things to break the better). This is the problem with announcing a vehicle years before it's fully baked. It's basically going to be old news by the time orders start being filled. To be clear, I'm very exited about the Slate and will be watching them closely, but it's going to be around half the price of the Scout, and if both companies deliver on their promises, the Scout will still be more than twice the truck. If both companies pull off even 80% of what they promise, I'll probably end up with both, lol.
Respectfully I beg to differ. I hope you get what ultimately works for you, but I put a reservation for a Traveler because I’m in love with that vehicle. From the last thing I read Slate doesn’t even have a factory locked down yet. I have no desire for Scout to make changes based on someone else’s concept vehicle. Honestly I would be disappointed if they took the Traveler and modified it to be like the Slate. Maybe someday in the future Scout can make a smaller 2 door that would be less expensive, but I would think we are a long way from that.
As for enthusiasm, that’s personal. I am very enthusiastic and there’s people who have been on this forum for years. Scout seems to me to be doing what they need to do to build enthusiasm for the brand. The current racing updates we are getting. Denver is in a month. Nationals are in six weeks. And we keep getting new members here everyday who bring new enthusiasm and get the conversation going. I for one can’t wait for them to start showing up to auto shows etc, because it’s going to happen. We are going to see colors and trims and options, oh my! It just takes time and I for one am enjoying the journey.
I think the Slate news is interesting. Perhaps I’m spoiled and looking at my mid life crisis vehicle (not really-I’d go Porsche 718 Cabrio if that were the case) but I want something I feel like I’ve earned and aspired to have at the age of 52. Perhaps there are others who want an EV for sake of Mother Earth and can’t afford a $60K + vehicle and that is slowly seeping in. Most of us who described our careers are white collar and have (based on my general knowledge) jobs that pay quite well. Not everybody has this opportunity.
I’ve stated-for me personally that I think the Slate is ugly and the approach isn’t my thing but I have a hunch there is a large demographic who will buy these. And somehow I suspect they will sell them via Amazon which is crazy but a unique concept if Bezos figures it out. As @cyure noted the other day I prefer not to continue lining the pockets of the rich so maybe that is part of why I don’t care for it. But to each their own. As a convenient work vehicle it may work for many. I’m just not one of them
I’ve stated-for me personally that I think the Slate is ugly and the approach isn’t my thing but I have a hunch there is a large demographic who will buy these. And somehow I suspect they will sell them via Amazon which is crazy but a unique concept if Bezos figures it out. As @cyure noted the other day I prefer not to continue lining the pockets of the rich so maybe that is part of why I don’t care for it. But to each their own. As a convenient work vehicle it may work for many. I’m just not one of them
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I don't think we differ at all. I just worded whatever I said poorly. Slate has good ideas, simple base model with the lowest price they can pull off, and additions that will make it better. The scout is a completely different class vehicle. An example of what I'm trying to say might be having the scout remain functional without the center display being operational or even installed. This is a good idea, especially for a truck. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have one, but cascading failures on modern vehicles are not ideal if you want your vehicle to stand the test of time. To be fair, I have a reservation on the traveler for the sam reason as you, and don't have a reservation on a slate yet. I'll be watching them though.
Haha, I'm getting the scout for the opposite reason, to collapse my responsible vehicles (Landcruiser and Prius) into one so that I can spend my mid-life-crisis bucks/energy on something dumber (probably a Cayman). The Slate has my interest because I work with vetronics, and it sounds like a good ground vehicle that I can use for classes/demos (and admittedly limited shenanigans). I doubt I'd find it in my heart to do something like that with a scout which will likely be far more complex.
It is a good point about making the rich richer, but I have plenty of time to think on that part, since like you said, they don't even have a factory site yet.
I’m in a similar place but the fear I would have-and I’ve seen this first hand in the building industry. At some point you try to put out a cheap (and I do say cheap) version of your product. It looks similar but it’s stripped. Shortly thereafter your image gets tarnished and you suddenly lose your primary base because your reputation gets battered then you either fight to climb back up or you settle everything downward and sooner than later run out of your demographic. It’s a slippery slope and has to be managed just right. You can’t split your product into extremes and expect to compete at both ends. Eventually one or both fail. UNLESS you go a stripped route but essentially create a new category class that makes you stand out due to uniqueness
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Big Scout enthusiast here, first post on this forum even though I've been following all along. but I felt a need TO EXPRESS: I agree the looks aren't as great and I don't want to support more Besos billionaire crap *but* Slate has made the truck modular and very down to basics, and that is what I think is missing from the new line of Scouts. Also being able to install and modify and have it be encouraged by Slate? Old scouts were about the basics, getting to where we needed, and changing the vehicle for different uses. That opinion has been expressed from the beginning on this forum and frankly I was really surprised, and a little bummed when Scout rolled out these luxury trucks. I really hope Scout is paying attention because they are going to miss out on a VERY loyal fan base if they keep going towards the up scale suv/truck route.
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I think you're saying it better than me. Simple and basic can be good. Shoddy and corner-cutting is bad. I'll still have my eye on slate, but the Scout is the one I'm more interested in long term.
That would be worth every penny.
While the legacy Scout fan base is loyal as you said, it is tiny - much too tiny to support an entirely new company. We can debate whether the manufacturers or the customers created the current market but the fact is that Scout is building trucks for the largest piece of the market. They must be able to show a large TAM (Total Addressable Market) in order to attract the enormous amounts of capital needed to get a car company off the ground. The fact of the matter is that the number of people who need a "farm truck" has diminished greatly since 1960 (Some random Googling shows that half the number of people are employed in agriculture today as there were in 1960). The vast majority of trucks today are not used for "work", but instead are family haulers, commuters, trips to Home Depot, and tow campers and boats on weekends. That is the fat part of the market and the part where the current Scout vehicles are targeted.
I am a hobby farmer (10 acres w/ chickens and goats) so I could use a truck to haul feed, hay, compost, etc (currently using an '07 Diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee) but most of the time it will be a daily driver and for that I would like creature comforts.
I think Slate has found a niche that, based on posts on this board, has some appeal. I think there is room in the market for both.
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