Elon Musk is facing negative headlines in the press while Tesla is reeling from a wave of anti-company sentiment.

Elon Musk is having a hard time dealing with a lot of unwanted news. Photo: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
Once known as a leader in the electric vehicle (EV) space, Tesla has struggled since the start of the year, largely due to Elon Musk’s polarizing actions.

Even after the Tesla CEO announced he would be stepping down from his position at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Tesla’s stock price has yet to gain any sustained momentum.

Tesla recently revealed that sales in China were down more than 8% year-on-year while demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) continued to grow.

This shows that the company’s market share in a crucial market is declining at a crucial time.

Now, Tesla has more bad news from the United States as a new rival celebrates a major milestone.

Tesla Outcry
Less than two weeks ago, news broke that Tesla had an unexpected new competitor, a startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Slate Automotive has been quietly pioneering the affordable electric pickup truck space for years, but it’s finally entering the market with a bang.

Slate Automotive is backed by a formidable figure, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Photo Instagram
The company builds custom electric pickup trucks with a traditional design and a sticker price of just $25,000, a price that is even lower with the federal EV tax credit.

So far, demand for these vehicles has been extremely high.

Slate reported that over the weekend of May 10, there were more than 100,000 reservations for the electric pickup truck.

Those numbers have yet to translate into actual sales, but they show that there are plenty of people eager to get their hands on a Slate Automotive electric truck before it even launches.

As TechCrunch reported, Slate’s trendy model is the complete opposite of Tesla’s Cybertruck, as it is “affordable, deeply customizable, and very much like a real car,” even without an infotainment screen.

This comes at a time when Tesla is facing a major demand problem for the Cybertruck.

TheStreet has published photos showing hundreds of Tesla’s futuristic trucks sitting idle at the company’s massive Texas manufacturing facility, as well as in random parking lots in other states.

Elon Musk has spent years hyping the Cybertruck, touting it as the vehicle of the future, even as it has faced multiple production delays.

However, despite initial reservations when Tesla finally launched the product, it’s clear that supply is far outstripping demand, presenting Tesla with a major problem at a time when it’s struggling to sell electric vehicles.

The High Demand for the Anti-Tesla Truck Tells an Important Story About an Industry

With demand for the Slate’s sleek, affordable truck option steadily rising while Cybertruck sales have slowed, it’s not hard to see signs of things to come.

Consumers are more interested in an affordable electric truck than in spending big bucks on Elon Musk’s vision of the future.

This could be because many consumers have opted not to buy any Teslas lately, an apparent reaction to Elon Musk’s political affiliations.

But it also suggests that truck buyers are looking for a more traditional-looking model, one that can actually function as a regular pickup truck.

Tesla recently attempted to rebrand the Cybertruck as a regular work truck, but as TheStreet reports, the initiative didn’t go over well, and experts predict it will fail again.

People who need a work truck are clearly not going to want to switch to the Cybertruck, especially given its high price tag.

Slate Automotive is making significant progress and has built a following before it even launches a truck.

The last thing Elon Musk needs is a competitor, and now it has one.

Worse, Tesla’s competitor is backed by one of Elon Musk’s biggest rivals.