After matching his space bet, Jeff Bezos has invested in the other great Elon Musk project: electric cars

Jeff Bezos is financing under a startup of electric vehicles called Slate Auto, which works since 2022 in a Pickup Compact and affordable with an expected price of $ 25,000, as it has revealed Techcrunch.

Why is it important. This investment is a very different approach to the one followed by the majority of electric startups, which have opted for luxury models with high margins. Slate Auto changes the usual strategy when directing directly to the mass market, that of the general public.

And just at a time when the growth of some brands has slowed down. In the case of Tesla, has collapsed.

Between bambalins. The company was born as part of Re Manufacturing, another company supported by Bezos and co -founded by Jeff Wilke, former CEO of Amazon Consumer. Since then, he has attracted several executives from Ford, GM, Stellantis and Harley-Davidson, in addition to several former Amazon ex-employed.

The figures. Slate raised at least 111 million dollars in a series A round in 2023, and according to documents from the state of Delaware mentioned by Motorpasionhas authorized about 500 million preferential shares for a series B $ 2.37 per share. That is, almost 1.2 billion dollars.

In addition to Bezos, the company has the investment of Mark Walter, majority owner of the Dodgers, a baseball team, and Thomas Tull, main re manufacturing investor.

The strategy. The Pickup of two Slate places follow a minimalist philosophy inspired by the Ford Model T and the Volkswagen Beetle. The company’s plan is to compensate for the low margins of the vehicle with an accessories line for customization, similar to the Harley-Davidson business model or division Mopar of Stellantis.

And now what. Slate plans to start production at the end of 2026 in an installation in Indiana. During these days a prototype of the car in Los Angeles has been sighted and photographed, showing a simple and functional design, published in Reddit and collected by Carscoops. Far away from the futuristic lines of a possible rival like the Cybertruck of Tesla.

Expected that, after the exclusive Techcrunch And the first photo of the prototype, the company is encouraged to share some more information than until now, where it has been cryptic in its communications.

Outstanding image | Reddit

In Xataka | The problem of US cars in Europe is not tariffs: they are not interested in the least