A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

Does this strategy even make sense? You can charge $20k for a car. Why wouldn’t you add options that cost you nearly nothing but some amount of buyers will opt in for a meaningful revenue increase.

Charge $1k for paint. Even if 95% of people don’t do that, 5% of orders just increased their revenue by 5%. Paint doesn’t take engineering time.. just spend $500 and let some other company do it. This is why trims exist, having a single low price point means people who want to spend more either produce lower revenue than possible, or are disappointed.

IMO this one trim, one price is almost certainly a prelaunch marketing gimmick as from a business perspective there is literally no benefit.

> Paint doesn’t take engineering time.. just spend $500 and let some other company do it.

Are you sure you read the article? The is explicitly addressed.

I think it better if they just give options for easy modding. You take it to a garage for a mechanic to spray it, or to hollow out radio nook, or add a phone charger outlet.

DIY wrap kit I guess is a form of options, but again seems like a missed revenue opportunity. Some of your market wants DIY customization, but realistically some anmount of (or almost every) consumer would rather pay +$1000 for a nice colored than $400 for a wrap kit.

The moment you say "just", you've lost the argument.

In the YT video (linked in another comment), it claims they save $350M by not building painting facilities.