Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, July 22.
In a world where few electric vehicle startups survive, this one might have a chance.
Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto is making noise in the Detroit 3's backyard with aggressive hiring and manufacturing plans for its bare-bones electric pickup expected to be priced in the mid-$20,000 range.
We'll see about that, but in the meantime, the company's head count has swelled to about 250 at its suburban Detroit headquarters. Slate is filling 90 more positions as it gears up to launch production in Indiana, CEO Chris Barman told Automotive News affiliate Crain's Detroit Business.
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As Kurt Nagl reports, to keep costs down, the "radically simple" truck is stripped to bare bones — gray body panels, no radio or infotainment system, crank windows, and knobs and buttons as opposed to touch screens. It's marketed as a blank slate to be customized by the owner.
The two-seat truck can be converted into a five-seat crossover, and owners can buy wraps to customize the exterior, Nagl wrote.
With $700 million raised and 100,000 reservations booked, this concept shows promise. Slate will start production in a 1.4 million-square-foot former printing plant in Warsaw, Ind., with a launch expected toward the end of 2026.
Still, we've seen a plethora of well-financed startups in the EV space fail, while others not named Tesla continue to burn cash. As always, execution will be crucial for this venture to succeed — especially with such a low price point. It doesn't help that EV tax credits will be long gone before the first Slate Auto rolls off the assembly line.
Meanwhile, General Motors revealed the latest damage done to its bottom line by President Donald Trump's tariffs. The bill for the second quarter was $1.1 billion.
Despite this, CFO Paul Jacobson said all is well.
"Tariffs are obviously a big story for us," Jacobson said on CNBC. "We're in a bit of an adjustment phase right now, but I think the team is really firing on all cylinders."
Not on Wall Street. Investors knocked GM shares down by more than 8 percent for the day as GM kept its 2025 forecast unchanged.
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day. If you want to read this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
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