Technology

And backed by Bezos

So they finally made a car for minimalists.

The specs on the website don't have the number one statistic I care about: Can I, a 6'3" (190cm) man, fit comfortably inside without being forced to drive with my knees? It says it is 69" (175cm) tall which is not a promising sign. The website does not have warranty information yet either, the next most important thing for me. The fact it is mostly made in America, implies that it will probably break within a year which makes the price irrelevant. The lack of infotainment is a huge plus, I don't understand how those things are even legal. A laptop dock would be much more beneficial in my opinion. One which can easily slide out of sight, like when I'm actually driving and not just watching porn while stuck in a traffic jam. The option for hand crank windows pretty cool, so I can re-enact that one scene from the movie The Game if I want.

After really taking a deep look at the customization options I can't help but wonder, Am I dressing a Barbie or looking for a vehicle? Can I get the icon in cornflower blue? Is there an option to make the entire vehicle look like a 90's geocities page, including gifs? I spent who knows how long looking at the options and went to see what the price would be. Well guess what? I can't! Not without reserving one for $50. Even then I have no indication I'll be told the price. Sorry but I don't care what options there are, I'm not gonna pay one dollar, let alone fifty, if I can't see what the final price will be, even just an estimate would be nice. Am I supposed to trust the word of random news articles that it's actually under $20k with an asterisk? I don't care if the $50 is refundable. Any company that requires I speak to someone for the price of their product, is a company that is lying about the price of their product.

Great idea and almost a step in the right direction for cars (in my opinion). However, I can all but guarantee this would be a bad car for me to buy, because car salepeople and car engineers simply can't help but take any good idea and load it up with as much enshittification as they possibly can stuff in and then try to get the customer to pay more for heaps of shit on top, which they call icing but is really just shit, all while lying about every possible thing they can.

So like a fully plastic Pickman?

Love it. No connection to the internet except when you choose to, through your phone. Analog controls. Frickin roll up windows!

My only beef with the current concept is the bolt on body panels and other parts. Too easy to steal. Could replace those bolts with security bolts, if they aren't already, but that just discourages the casuals.

No paint because you're injection molding body panels? Sounds good.

No stamping? How are you getting away with that? Are they just outsourcing the stamping for frame parts? There's no way this thing doesn't require stamped frame components.

Tbh, this feels like vaporware. I'll believe it when I see them actually being delivered.

I generally like the idea of smartphones as replacement for radio/nav but only if no specific app is required to do anything important with the car itself. Because then you are dependent on the manufacturer keeping this app up to date.

But the price for this thing is too high when incentives are excluded

A basic usable truck sounds good to me, but the price seems high for bare bones and the range seems equally bare bones.

this strikes me as a fascinating idea--with a couple of eyebrow-raising backers--that is probably going to flop spectacularly because it's too minimalistic to the point of just being cheapskate

That design also enables a low-cost approach to manufacturing that has caught the eye of major investors, reportedly including Jeff Bezos. It's been engineered and will be manufactured in America, but is this extreme simplification too much for American consumers?

I'm more worried about the cheapness and corner cutting.