They don't even have pictures of a factory line. It feels so much like a pipe dream at best or a poorly thought out scam at worst
It probably is a scam, or at best vaporware. One thing about these emerging automotive companies is that a lot of them are going to go away. Even semi-established brands with good products are suffering. Lucid just layed off 1,000 people and they have, from what I hear, an incredibly competent product. There was the company Fisker that shit out a bunch of half baked SUVs, then went bankrupt, and left the couple thousand people that bought one holding a worthless piece of shit that had major software issues.
This happened between the great depression and world war II as well. there were a lot of companies that built cars, but due to economic circumstances, folded, and basically left us with the big three (GM, Ford, Chrysler) and a bunch of stragglers (Studebaker/Packard, Nash/Hudson, Kaiser/Willys/Jeep). Studebaker/Packard went bankrupt, and the rest became a conglomerate named AMC, which eventually got absorbed into Chrysler around 1990.
The difference now is that you have to think about software in the car, what that software is collecting, and how youre gonna have to deal with it 10-15 years down the line, not just parts availability. I'm pretty sure the radios in 2007+ GM trucks control the sound of the clicking of the turn signal instead of it being its own relay/module, so if you have to change out the factory radio, you have to install a separate thing to control the turn signals. That was nearly 20 years ago, and I am sure the situation has not gotten better.
Imagine a vehicle that isn't crippled by bloat bullshit and subscription services and overly elaborate electronics. Imagine a vehicle you can actually work on yourself without risking a lawsuit for tampering with IP.
Not gonna happen with our overly litigious and retarded society. For anyone that enjoys driving, all the electronic systems are a nuisance, but remember that most people that have cars do not buy them for a want, but a need to get places. those electronic systems help keep dumb bitches in their leased Mercedes GLC 43 from killing you, or worse, making you a vegetable. Furthermore, even though crash structures add a lot of money to the price of new vehicles, they are ultimately a benefit.
There is no way that either of these vehicles the reo truck and the slate truck will cost under $50k
Slate has a base price of just under $25k, and they probably can keep it that way since it is extremely basic. There isn't even a standard radio, its $250 for an integrated (probably mono) bluetooth speaker. Slate is probably going to try and make margin on accessories that they provide. The BOM on the truck probably isn't much either. It really just looks like a golf cart with just the bare minimum of shit on it to federalize it for road use.