At this moment in automotive history, there seems to be a lot of interest in affordable trucks. This is a good thing! Cars are too damn expensive as it is, and trucks are wonderfully useful machines. There are three potential new affordable pickup trucks on the horizon that seem to have captured the attention of the car-interested public: Ford’s upcoming allegedly-affordable electric pickup, Slate’s $26,400 electric pickup, and the lone combustion-powered member of this triumvirate, the proposed REO Runabout pickup truck.
Of all of these, I think it’s safe to say that the biggest wildcard is REO. Ford is, well, Ford; Slate has Amazon money behind it; but REO? Who are they? Why do they think they can compete in this notoriously difficult business of making cars? Are they for real? Is this some scam? As car enthusiasts, we have been burned many times before, after all.
So what’s going on? Well, you may recall that a few weeks ago I interviewed real estate broker Zach De Bernardi, the man behind REO. The interview was very interesting, and I came away thinking that De Bernardi has an absolute metric crapton of work ahead of him, towering obstacles, and odds of success that wouldn’t make me want to stake my mortgage on the outcome. But I also believed he was sincere in his goals. And I think the goals are very good ones, and I think the trucks and associated company he’s planning incorporate some genuinely good ideas.
So that’s why I thought it’d be good to have him on our podcast, which you can listen to right here:
Or, if you’re into using your eyes and ears, here’s a YT link so you can watch our eyes, to see if we’re lying:
Or to listen to more podcast episodes, you can go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or you can use the RSS feed and point your favorite Podcast player at it.
It’s one thing to read what someone is planning and another thing to actually see them talk about those plans, and for something that is as dependent on trust in the person running the show, I thought an actual, recorded interview with De Bernardi would make the most sense.
Everyone is skeptical. We all remember companies like Elio and that EV truck maker Nikolai or Lordstown Motors, all of which had big ideas and lots of promises and hopes and are now just ashes. Companies like Elio took millions of dollars in deposits and produced nothing. It’s understandable that people’s initial reactions are skeptical.
I’m skeptical myself! And yet, I still manage to feel a bit of hope when I talked to De Bernardi. The goals of the company seem to make sense – build affordable, combustion-powered trucks that are free of so much of the technological frippery of our time, and are designed for people who appreciate the utility and charms of a well-designed, straightforward machine.
I love all of that! I tried to ask De Bernardi the hard questions, to feel out the company’s plans, and I found his answers to be quite honest and reasonable. They’re not going to fall for vain boondoggles like trying to design their own engines or anything like that. They’ll rely heavily on trusted, established suppliers and try to leverage existing standards. They’re open to future tech advancements, like automated driving systems and EV powertrains, but the plan is to keep their trucks modular and upgradable, so those things can be optional.
REO is still very much at the beginning of this process, but they’re making steps. They’re working with outside firms to help engineer and design the truck, which makes sense, but I’m really eager to see some kind of prototype before I form real opinions.
Even if you read the previous interview, I’d encourage you to watch or listen to this podcast. I think it’ll give you a good sense of who is actually behind this company, which will help you to decide how you feel about them, which is important because to succeed, REO needs people to make (refundable, $25) reservations. A lot of reservations will make the company seem “real” to suppliers and investors. And having those will in turn make the company far more likely to succeed. But for that to happen, a lot of people will need to take a leap of faith. These reservations are a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem.
Oh, also, De Bernardi sort of challenged our readers to figure out the engine being sourced for the REO Runabout T4X. It’s an inline-four turbo, somewhere around 2 to 2.5 liters, power between 260 and 325 hp. What could that be?
Anyway, I can’t think of a better way to form an opinion about a potential new truck-making startup than listening to their CEO talk about their plans for an hour. Have at it!
You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish.
Reading another interview REO is planning on outdoing Slate on bare bone and removing the interior door cards. I wonder what focus group said that is what they were looking for in a truck?
Uhhhh, that sounds like something made by pretty much every major manufacturer.
Ford, GM, Honda, Stellantis, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Mazda, VW, Hyundai/Kia, Nissan all make something that fits that description. And that is just for Federalized engines, there is probably way more if they want to look at overseas stuff and try to federalize it. I’m struggling to think who doesn’t make an engine that covers that besides the likes of Subaru, Ferrari, Aston, other small/niche manufacturers, and EV only companies.
From another interview: “There’s a lot of Toyota DNA from vehicles I love that’s going to be put into this vehicle,”
Awaiting the ever present “just buy a used truck” comments.
RED CED? Oh, never mind. The other day I left a $20 tip for a server. $25? Why not?
CEO: Do you know what that is?
I know what that is…That’s an espresso machine. No, no, wait. It’s a snow cone maker. Is it a water heater?
Serious reply, Mazda (Skyactiv-G 2.5T)
Did you ask who is going to front the roughly billion dollars that is needed to start up a car company to make a $21,500 truck?
Yeah, that’s a little bit of a hurdle.
But if 40 million people each make a $25 deposit, boom!
{hand waving] Minor details, and it’s “OPM”.
Though if any vehicle can be made and sold for that price with a tiny profit (eventually, someday, maybe), a basic dumb little ICE-powered body-on-frame single-cab pickup certainly should be it. Though I question why the hell you would want to put a turbo motor in such a thing. Surely somebody makes a 125-150hp n/a inline four as complex as a hammer that would do the job perfectly adequately. Or just make it unibody and FWD, possibly even cheaper to build, with lots more choices of drivetrain. I am assuming it’s BoF from that shadow picture where you can see a split betwixt cab and bed. I do love that they are planning on drop sides – how every pickup should be.
Problem is, there’s a good reason nobody makes those anymore for the US, and I predict Slate will sell to the handful of people (and businesses) that want such a thing then die or get bought out. Though that said, the Luddites who like this sort of thing would probably find this rather more appealing than an EV.