Featured Cybertruck recall

i don't see the gamble as cost of production, though it could be. but i see it as a sales volume gamble.
we are not a country much interested in stripped down anything. idk about other countries

 

While that is all true, there is logic behind how they get a low price.
Unlike a lot of marketing hype that is a bunch of hand waving (“and then a miracle occurs”).

I don’t need a truck and won’t be putting a deposit down on one.
But I think there are enough people out there that don’t want to pay for power windows and tech toys.

 

but the profits are all in the options, and they are likely betting that americans will drive the average price up to meet the competitors.
then someone will ask, what are we really getting here, and they will be left with the few who want the stripper.
i don't agree that there is much call for that, especially in the low ev sales arena. but it's just an opinion.

 

Wonder who they will be buying all those mechanical window cranks, door latches, fresh air vent slider controls emergency brake cable levers Etc from. Maybe even one of those high beam buttons on the floor.

.

 

Even this will make its money on the accessories. Which includes things like speakers and tablet holder. The Slate truck is less equipped than my 2000 Ranger. Haven't seen a car without a radio since the fortwo. The company will very likely sell some accessories with each truck.

The factory will only build the stripper. They are calling the options accessories cause the owner has to install them on their own, or pay someone else to do it.

 

in my late 60s & I've never had one yet - is it too late?

 

by a longshot

 

I don’t know that there is a lot of call for that. There are people who complain about all the tech in cars though.
I believe the forum recently lost a member who moved on. He was very focused on price and often asked why he couldn’t get a basic car without all the bells and whistles.

Now, many of these complaints may just be hot air. But they do crop up from time to time.

 

Not with modern medicine, and enough money.

All the bells and whistles is due to feature creep. Someone offers a once optional feature as standard, then the rest follows.

Slate's accessory model could limit this. The low price isn't just from offering a stripper base, it is in only building that trim. The only factory option is a bigger battery. By not having all the usual options installed at the factory, they've cut cost to the line and workforce from having the ability to install optional features. It presents a bigger hurdle to adding such options than traditional car companies had.

 

You still have the development cost of the add-ons, the testing, the connections if they are powered, the brackets for sensors, etc.

I want to be the lawyer in a "my client installed electric windows sponsored by the car maker in his car following a third party's directions and then the side airbag didn't function and now he is dead" case. Can you say billable hours.

There is some value in being able to point a finger at a single company and say it is your responsibility.

 

or worse - FORCED feature creep. Years ago we looked for a Hybrid Camry & the better ½ insisted on a lighted vanity mirror. At that time - including a lighted vanity sun visor mirror feature was $1,500 - as they were only packaged with the fancy sunroof. No sale for them.
.

 

same with ours. 2013 xle had the lighted mirror, 2024 didn't.

 

That's a one time cost that is rolled into the accessory's price. It isn't an ongoing cost like training workers to install options, having stations on the line for those installations, and even needing to pay for the workers to do the install.

 

There may be a bunch sitting in some warehouse gathering dust, but they still use them in asia. My guess is with the tarrifs getting new parts will cost more for the mechanical windows than electric ones. Cost savings may be not running any cables into the doors not in the parts them selves.

I don't think its ever too late. Friend's grandpa was at his stag party, and was having a good old time.