Slate Auto will sell its electric truck in crayon colors.
The company announced five licensed Crayola wraps on July 9, each named for the crayon it borrows: Cerulean, Fern, Jersey Tomato, Razzmatazz, and Dandelion. Starter packs open at $1,549.99, and the deal is Crayola’s first with an automaker in the 123 years since the crayons debuted.
Pricing is the interesting part. A basic single-color wrap kit from Slate runs about $499 in materials. Crayola’s version costs three times that for a truck that, at $24,950 before destination, is the least expensive new EV an American can order. One crayon color amounts to just over 6 percent of the vehicle it decorates.
That ratio only makes sense inside Slate’s business model, where the truck ships bare and nearly everything a buyer touches afterward is margin.
Key Takeaways
- Five Crayola wraps arrived July 9: blue Cerulean, green Fern, red Jersey Tomato, pink Razzmatazz, and yellow Dandelion.
- Starter packs begin at $1,549.99 and include the full wrap, Crayola serpentine-stripe decals, a matching key fob cap, and a snap-on dashboard piece Slate calls a Slatelet.
- The collaboration is Crayola’s first automotive partnership. Slate’s store page labels the sets limited edition.
- Slate’s basic wrap kits start around $499 in materials, so the licensed colors carry roughly a 3x premium over an ordinary single-color kit.
- Every Slate leaves the factory in the same unpainted gray composite. There is no paint option at any price; wraps are the entire color program.
- The truck itself starts at $24,950 with a 205-mile pack, with production scheduled to begin in Warsaw, Indiana in the fourth quarter of 2026.
What $1,549.99 Buys
Each starter pack bundles four items: the full vehicle wrap in the chosen crayon color, a set of decals featuring Crayola’s serpentine stripe, a key fob cap in the matching shade, and a clip-on piece of dashboard art from the line Slate markets as Slatelets.
Sales opened July 9 through Slate’s online store, and the company says a wrap can go on at any point in ownership, not just at ordering.
Slate’s product page bills the collection as limited-edition sets, though neither company has said whether that means a capped production run or a closing order window. Installation, wrap material, and expected lifespan go unmentioned, and those are the three questions a buyer would ask before spending $1,549.99 on vinyl.
All five colors skew playful on purpose. Razzmatazz is a bright pink, Jersey Tomato a tomato red, and Slate singles out Dandelion, the yellow, as a fan favorite. Crayola retired Dandelion from its 24-crayon box in 2017 with enough fanfare to stage a farewell tour for it, which gives the yellow wrap a nostalgia hook the other four lack.
The Wrap Math
Color on a Slate has always been an accessory rather than a feature. As we detailed in our breakdown of Slate’s option pricing, every truck leaves the factory in identical gray composite panels, and buyers who want anything else choose from wrap kits. Basic solid colors start around $499 in materials. Elaborate custom patterns run past $2,000.
| Wrap option | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Factory gray (standard) | Unpainted composite panels | $0 |
| Basic single-color kit | Wrap materials only | About $499 |
| Crayola starter pack | Wrap, stripe decals, fob cap, Slatelet | From $1,549.99 |
| Full custom kit | Premium patterns, materials only | $2,000 and up |
Installation sits with the owner either way. Body panels carry a grid of coachlines that let a wrap go on section by section rather than as one unbroken sheet, and Slate supports the job with app-based instructions and a video series it calls Slate U.
Owners who would rather not spend a weekend squeegeeing vinyl can pay a Slate authorized partner to handle it; Cars.com pegged that service at an estimated $499 when the production configurator opened in June.
Whether the Crayola packs fold an install option into their price is one of the details the announcement skips.
Why a Crayon Company, and Why Now
Slate has repeated one line since it came out of stealth in April 2025: these are the first vehicles designed to be wrapped.
That line is marketing, but the engineering behind it is real.
Composite panels that never see a paint shop are a genuine cost saving, and they turn the exterior into a subscription surface. A wrap wears out, gets swapped, or goes out of style, and the owner comes back to the store.
A licensing deal is the logical next step for that store. Carscoops counted roughly 100 wrap options in June between basic colors and patterned designs; TechCrunch describes the catalog as hundreds of combinations. Adding a second brand’s name lets Slate charge $1,549.99 for what is mechanically a $499 product, and Crayola gets its palette rolling down public roads.
“Slate vehicles are all about accessorization, and we collaborated with Crayola for their instantly recognizable palette,” Ben Whitla, Slate’s head of brand and marketing, said in the announcement. Crayola’s head of global partnerships, Anna Roca, called the deal the company’s first automotive collaboration and described it as “transforming a vehicle into a canvas.”
For a startup that has yet to put a truck in a customer’s hands, the merchandising energy is doing real work. It keeps the brand in headlines between the June configurator launch and the start of production, and every $300 deposit it prompts is a reservation Slate can show investors.
Where the Truck Itself Stands
Nothing under the vinyl changes.
The base Slate Truck is a two-seat electric pickup at $24,950 before a still-unannounced destination charge, with one battery option good for a Slate-estimated 205 miles. The five-seat SUV conversion starts at $29,950.
A rear motor makes 181 horsepower, and the spec sheet’s most radical features remain the ones it omits: no paint, no center screen, no power windows unless you add them.
Production is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026 at Slate’s plant in Warsaw, Indiana, for the 2027 model year. The press release says first deliveries are expected in the same quarter, an aggressive read given that earlier reporting framed Q4 as the production start.
The Bezos-backed company has taken preorders with $300 deposits since June, and our reliability database entry for the truck tracks what is known about the platform ahead of first customer vehicles.
If you are pricing a Crayola build: a Razzmatazz truck comes to roughly $26,500 before destination: $24,950 for the base pickup plus $1,549.99 for the starter pack, with installation on you or a paid partner. On the $29,950 SUV, the same wrap pushes the pre-destination figure past $31,000. Budget for the wrap’s eventual replacement too. Vinyl is a consumable, and nobody has published a lifespan figure for these kits.
The Store Is the Strategy
The crayon colors are the friendly face of a hard-nosed strategy. Slate builds one gray truck, and everything after that, color included, is a store. The Crayola deal proves the store can carry licensed goods at licensed-goods margins: $1,549.99 for a wrap whose unlicensed equivalent costs about $499. None of that makes it a bad buy. A Fern or Razzmatazz Slate will be one of the most distinctive vehicles in any parking lot, and the whole package still lands under $27,000 before destination. But buyers should see the deal for what it is. The truck is the platform. The wraps, this one and every collaboration that follows, are the product.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do the Slate Crayola wraps cost?
Starter packs begin at $1,549.99 through Slate’s online store. Each pack includes the full vehicle wrap, Crayola serpentine-stripe decals, a matching key fob cap, and a clip-on dashboard piece Slate calls a Slatelet. Installation is not confirmed as part of the price.
What colors are in the Slate x Crayola collection?
Five crayon-named wraps: blue Cerulean, green Fern, red Jersey Tomato, bright pink Razzmatazz, and yellow Dandelion. Slate’s store page labels the sets limited edition, though neither company has defined how limited.
Can you get a Slate Truck painted instead of wrapped?
No. Every Slate leaves the factory in the same unpainted gray composite body panels, and the company offers no paint option at any price. Wraps are the only factory-supported route to color, which is central to how Slate keeps the base price at $24,950.
How much do regular Slate wraps cost?
Slate’s basic single-color wrap kits start around $499 for materials, and elaborate custom patterns run past $2,000. The Crayola starter packs sit between those points at $1,549.99, carrying roughly a 3x premium over a basic kit for the licensed color and included accessories.
Who installs a Slate wrap?
The owner, by default. Slate designed the body with coachlines that divide the wrap into panel-sized sections, and it provides app-based instructions plus a tutorial video series called Slate U. Buyers who prefer not to do it themselves can pay a Slate authorized partner, a service Cars.com estimated at $499.
Is the Crayola collaboration an industry first?
It is Crayola’s first automotive partnership, per both companies. Slate’s broader claim, that its vehicles are the first designed to be wrapped, is the company’s standing marketing line. Licensed vehicle wraps as a category are not new; a crayon brand selling factory-matched wrap sets through an automaker’s own store is.
How much does the Slate Truck cost and when does it arrive?
The two-seat base truck starts at $24,950 and the five-seat SUV conversion at $29,950, both before an unannounced destination charge. Production is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2026 in Warsaw, Indiana for the 2027 model year, and Slate says first deliveries are expected that same quarter. Preorders are open with a $300 deposit.
Can the Crayola wrap go on a truck that is already delivered?
Yes. Slate says wraps can be added at any time, not just at ordering, and repeat re-wrapping over the life of the vehicle is part of the company’s pitch. The starter packs are sold separately from the truck through Slate’s store.
Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn is the writer, photographer, and publisher behind The Weekly Driver. He cares about how cars drive and what they're like to own. He covers automobile industry news, car shows and events, and new car reviews. The reviews come from behind the wheel: day trips that favor back routes, treating a good meal as half the reason to go. He directs and produces the visual media, matching each car to a setting and mood that fit it. When he's not reviewing new cars, Michael races paddleboards, camels, and ostriches, along with the occasional exotic car on the racetrack, and has driven in every state and country visited.
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