Cars and Coffee? Slate rolled up with trucks and crayons.
People came to see colorful American institution Crayola join forces with Slate Auto at FREE PARKING on July 9. The function followed in the footsteps of prior FREE PARKING affairs. April’s Keith Haring: On the Street put two vehicles painted by the New York icon on display while acting as a preview of Keith Haring in 3D, a new book published by Phaidon Press. Austin Babbitt, a young artist known as Asspizza, went wild with a Y2K-era BMW prior to the Haring exhibition, at the start of this year. FREE PARKING, always at the forefront of uniting the artistically-inclined and the automotive, was a perfect fit for “Slayola” — a collaboration which illustrated the marketing power of events rooted in culture over preaching specifications or speeds.
The evening highlighted the possibilities of Slate’s pickup truck: vinyl wraps of all shades, available from the brand, can dress the truck from top to bottom. Buy a matte gray “Blank Slate,” and you have a nucleus for drivable pop art. Who better to underscore the palette of potential than Crayola?
New York City is one of the cultural capitals of the United States with a world-class art scene, but many of its residents don’t have their own cars or driver’s licenses. “We’re a different crowd here, as much as we think we’re not,” CART co-founder Larry Warsh says. Slate arrived in NYC not to sell cars, but to offer a starting point, emphasis on “art.”
“The synergy is natural,” says Kim Ronpilla, Senior Vice President of Global Licensing at Crayola. “A child starts with a blank piece of paper, which parents refer to as a blank slate.” And, Ronpilla emphasizes, “Families include multiple generations.” In fact, Crayola unveiled new alcohol-based markers for their “All Grown Up” line the week prior.
The Slate’s low base price of USD 24,950 was surprisingly not a talking point although it has been getting as much attention as Yugo’s USD 3,990 did back in the day. Stranger still, there was no chit-chat about its hand-cranked windows. The audience who flocked to FREE PARKING appreciated the artistic freedom and imagination unlocked by a 24-count crayon set as much as, or more than, the specs of a new EV.
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Fashionably minded customers milled around two Slates – one wore Dandelion Yellow, while the other appeared to be scrawled on by someone armed with a pack of Crayola’s wares. Oh, and don’t forget five Slate scale models in Fern, Jersey Tomato, Dandelion, Razzmatazz (a pinkish, raspberry hue), and Cerulean. For good measure, a mural covered one wall, and guests used the crayons on hand to color it in. Think of it as the anti-Tesla Cybertruck, which you can’t order in any color but the stainless steel it comes in. The Slate, by contrast, “makes pop happen” according to Warsh; these mass-produced trucks are ready to receive a rainbow that buyers can edit as they see fit.
The interactive nature of the proceedings echoed Slate’s plans to roll out a bunch of do-it-yourself instructional videos under the name “Slate U.” When most folks think of working on their own cars, they picture changing the oil, swapping out a flat tire, and so on. “DIY has so many different meanings,” Jeff Jablansky, Slate’s Leader of Communication, recalls. “I don’t see [Slate U] as a new kind of DIY.” Still, Slate’s website says they’re “making the most DIY-able vehicle ever” and aim to “make cars DIY-able again.” Be it vinyl wraps or affixing a grille plate to the nose, Slate will guide you with tips for doing it all yourself. The DIY ethos at FREE PARKING saw aesthetics take precedence over ergonomics. Slate U didn’t surface in any discussion, but the customer’s autonomy remained apparent without any tools on site.
Beyond the exterior panels, certain spaces on the Slate allow for further personal expression. Take the cabin, which has room for “Slatelets.” These are little pieces of flair you can stick into the dashboard, similar to the “Jiblets” you put in Croc shoes. That’s intentional, says Slate Head of Design Tisha Johnson. “We look for areas of opportunity around the vehicle. People have taken a shoe and found opportunity. We did the same thing.”
Warsh views the event as a success for breaking new ground in vehicle promotion. CART’s FREE PARKING was just the environment for Slate’s difference. Compare this intimate spotlight to the New York Auto Show at NYC’s Javits Center, which, in Warsh’s words, is “very boring.”
“It’s a fun way of introducing the EV concept – cooler than presenting the EV to save gas. This makes it more human.”
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