Electric vehicle manufacturer Slate debuted its new truck tonight in Long Beach, California, pulling the silk off the model and revealing more about how the automaker will enable customers to personalize their vehicle.
Slate University is a multi-platform initiative by the company to teach, inform and inspire those who are thinking of purchasing or have bought one of their vehicles. Additionally, it will allow service providers to get continued and updated training in the field and have a mobile point of reference while on the go.
Traditional dealer sales models often rely on hours of in-person training at technical centers. Slate service providers will not be using the videos as their main point of training and there will be a certification process for them.
“So we plan to be very DIY-focused,” Slate CEO Chris Barman told Newsweek. “We want to have our own channel [so that we can] keep that relationship with the consumer and that we can coach them directly on things they may want to do to update or modify their vehicle. But, if they don’t feel comfortable, they can also take it to a partner.”
Slate
Slate University will allow watchers to be better educated when the time of their service appointment arrives. “They can feel informed before they take it to the partner on what to expect around the service that they should receive,” Barman said.
Slate will host the videos on its website, YouTube and mobile app.
Slate University will serve as a guidepost for those who want to try their hand at making do-it-yourself (DIY) improvements to their new vehicle. Barman is passionate about removing friction in the DIY process. Some of the key moments in Slate’s journey toward the marketplace “revolve around the DIY and what we can do to make things easier for the consumer,” she said.
Barman gave an example: “We have composite exterior panels. They are not painted, and we are molded in color. We wanted a wrap that brings the color to the vehicle to be DIY-able. For an individual who may not be familiar with putting a wrap on a vehicle, how do we help or assist them? And one way that we know we can do that is making the pieces of wrap that go on the vehicle just a little bit smaller and a little bit easy to manage.”
Slate designed character lines in its vehicle that serve as break points, to make modifications easier. “If you look at the side of the truck, the hood design that we have, we call it a clamshell because it wraps around and down to the fenders to the side of the vehicle. We carry that character line through the door and through the rear quarter panel. And the reason we do is, yes, it’s a nice aesthetic, but its purpose also is so that we were able to break up the size of the wrap. And that’s a good area where you can have a scene in the wrap,” the CEO said.
Slate customers can purchase a kit to turn their truck into an SUV in their driveway, should they choose. They could also install a unique front-end accessory created in partnership with a brand they love. There are thousands of DIY options.
Courtesy of Slate
Courtesy of Slate
Slate University is yet another part of the automaker’s disruptive ethos, which includes direct-to-consumer sales, selling the vehicle in one cab/bed combination, and empowering customers to choose to upgrade their vehicle on their own time, if and when their budget allows.