Slate’s affordable new pickup isn’t even on the market yet, and it’s already drawing out would-be competitors. Except that in the case of a new project announced by REO Industries, we’re talking not about an electric model, but a gas-powered one.
If it sounds familiar to some of you, it’s because REO Industries is actually a newly revived American nameplate. Its slogan? “Build it like it used to be.” More on that in a second.
REO’s dream
The Texas-based firm is betting for its planned future lineup of vehicles on two elements: internal combustion and extreme simplicity. It has announced plans to build an ultra-affordable, barebones, gas-powered compact truck targeting a starting price of just $21,500 USD. That kind of pricing would undercut electric rivals and make of their truck one of the cheapest new vehicles in America.
The company is evidently striking a chord with consumers tired of over-complicated vehicles. Within just six days of opening its website, REO secured over 5,500 “reservations”, although we should point those consist of potential customers making a mere $25 deposit. Which is refundable.
Ransom E. Olds' legacy
The REO moniker traces back to 1905, when Ransom E. Olds founded the REO Motor Car Company after parting ways with Oldsmobile. The original brand famously built the REO Speed Wagon, widely considered the ancestor of the modern pickup truck, before fading into bankruptcy and obscurity by the late 1960s.
Ameri-Kei
Cut to the present: The trademark rights to revive the historic badge were recently secured by a real estate entrepreneur and off-road enthusiast by the name of Zach De Bernardi. His plan is to bring REO back to relevance by offering what he calls an “Ameri-Kei” vehicle. The goal is to develop a platform heavily inspired by Japan's tiny, ultra-practical Kei cars and the legendarily reliable, owner-repairable Toyota trucks of the 1980s.
REO Runabout
REO’s business model centres on a single body-on-frame, energy-agnostic modular platform. The company plans to roll out three initial models:
• Runabout T4X ($21,500 USD): A 2-door, regular-cab work truck.
• Runabout T4C ($25,000): A larger 4-door, 5-seat crew-cab pickup.
• Runabout S4C ($28,500): A compact 4-door SUV featuring side-facing rear jump seats.
In terms of total length, the company is targeting about 4,570 mm, or about what a Honda Civic spans tip to tip. The frame architecture will be body-on-frame with mechanical 4WD, and a choice of either 6-speed manual or 6-speed auto transmission. REA wants a towing capacity of 4,500 lb and a payload capacity of 1,200 lb.
Getting to the targeted price point will mean keeping things simple and basic. The entry-level T4X will ship without a factory radio or finished interior door cards. Drivetrains will be sourced from an industry partner, using a yet-unnamed port-injected 4-cylinder gas engine. By avoiding complex electric batteries or modern direct injection, REO is targeting an average of 25 mpg (roughly 9.4L/100 km).
The interior trades out digital overload for tactile physical switches, analog gauges and levers (notable exception, a small central display for Apple CarPlay). It also reintroduces forgotten utility features, such as the ability to be flat-towed behind large RVs with all four tires on the ground, and a dedicated air conditioning vent mounted right below the steering wheel — a nostalgic nod to 1990s GM trucks known to enthusiasts as “the chiller.”
Riding the Right-to-Repair wave
True to its slogan, REO is positioning its vehicles as an indictment of legacy automakers who lock out independent mechanics. The company claims the Runabout is engineered for a 500,000-mile (805,000-km) lifespan, promising that any body panel can be removed in under five minutes with common garage tools. Furthermore, it pledges plain-English diagnostics accessible via a cheap $30 scanner, an open-source community marketplace and a guaranteed 20-year public parts catalog with no software-pairing restrictions.
While launching a car company from scratch remains an uphill battle, REO plans a full model lineup reveal in late 2026, followed by pre-production pilot builds in Texas by 2027. The company wants its assembly lines humming at capacity and delivering units by late 2028.