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

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1321 points kwindla | 7 comments | 25 Apr 25 15:01 UTC | HN request time: 1.059s | source | bottom
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PaulHoule ◴[25 Apr 25 15:15 UTC] No.43794437[source]▶
I like it. My wife runs a riding academy and we use a Honda Fit the way some people would use a pickup truck: we can fit 10 bales of wood shavings in the back. [1] We’re dreading when it fails because they don’t make the fit anymore and compact hatchbacks seem to be on the way out. Recent experiences have made me a bit of a Buick enthusiast and I can see driving a 2005-ish sedan except that I won’t get those sawdust bales into the trunk. We are also thinking of fitting in EV into the fleet, so far the used Nissan Leaf has been the main contender but this is a pickup truck I could get into.

[1] We were profitable from day one because we didn’t buy a $80,000 pickup on day one the way everybody else does.

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rozap ◴[25 Apr 25 15:48 UTC] No.43794897[source]▶
I also love this design and I'm happy that someone is doing it. I think it's unlike anything else on the market.

But, they won't necessarily be competing against other new things on the market. My wife also rides horses and we got a $5000 20 year old F250 which is very basic but has been bulletproof, and it can tow. I imagine old, basic trucks, either cheap domestic ones or kei trucks will be what this thing competes against.

I hope it does well. This is the kind of design thinking that the auto industry needs.

Also I'm increasingly convinced that the Honda fit is what peak performance looks like. But when it dies you do have options - maybe a Ford Transit Connect or a Metris.

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1. kyledrake ◴[25 Apr 25 16:23 UTC] No.43795461[source]▶
All micro cargo van providers have stopped building them. The Transit Connect, Metris, Promaster City and NV200 are all now discontinued. The VW Caddy isn't sent to the states.

There are rumors that they will make a cargo van based on the Maverick but they make them in Mexico, and with the tariff situation I'm not sure if they will be going through with that anymore.

All of the perfect compacts and hatchbacks are slowly disappearing, and solid work trucks have been replaced with $60k+ fake trucks that will melt their gaskets with crappy turbos and can't even fit a piece of 2x4 in the back. There is an enormous category of consumers that just want an auto that's simple, affordable, safe, fuel efficient and reasonably sized. Almost nobody is serving them right now.

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2. ethbr1 ◴[25 Apr 25 17:21 UTC] No.43796233[source]▶
To give credit where credit is due, the ~$25k Ford Maverick was a decent step towards "enough" vehicle for many people, while minimizing cost.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a64351746/2025-ford-mav...

And definitely went the other way from the industry.

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3. masklinn ◴[25 Apr 25 18:29 UTC] No.43797027[source]▶
> All micro cargo van providers have stopped building them. The Transit Connect, Metris, Promaster City and NV200 are all now discontinued.

This is an entirely american problem, because the small van is largely dead in the US. They're doing fine elsewhere.

The Metris is still manufactured (as the Vito, or V260 in China), and is not the smallest model which is the Citan (based on the Kangoo, with its second gen based on kangoo III in 2021).

The Promaster City (Fiat Doblo) still exists, as a rebadged Berlingo since 2022.

The NV 200 was replaced by the NV 250 (a rebadged Kangoo II) in 2019, which was then replaced by the Townstar (a rebadged Kangoo III) in late 2021. There's also the Docker / Express below that (which descends from the Logan MCV / Van).

And the Transit Connect was replaced by the Caddy (rebadged), but Ford dropped its original plans of a US release.

> There is an enormous category of consumers that just want an auto that's simple, affordable, safe, fuel efficient and reasonably sized.

Apparently not sufficiently so (or with a consistent enough need) that they can be catered to. Or at least not so that you couldn't make more money selling them pavement princesses.

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4. rjsw ◴[25 Apr 25 22:57 UTC] No.43799270[source]▶
Ford have an even smaller van than the Transit Connect, the Transit Courier, I am considering an electric one for my next car.

Maybe Slate could offer a van version as well as the SUV.

5. klipklop ◴[26 Apr 25 00:17 UTC] No.43799749[source]▶
Too bad the "ecoboost" engines in them are total garbage.
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6. kevin_thibedeau ◴[26 Apr 25 01:19 UTC] No.43800071{3}[source]▶
The 2.0 doesn't have the problems that the 2.3 Ecoboost has. The '25 model has port injection added to deal with carbonization.
7. BirAdam ◴[26 Apr 25 01:35 UTC] No.43800139[source]▶
Yeah, except dealers ruined it. I wanted to buy one but every single dealership had them at $10k over MSRP.