Slate Auto replaces CEO months ahead of affordable EV launch

Slate Auto, the Jeff Bezos-backed electric vehicle startup, has replaced its CEO months before the launch of its affordable electric truck.

Former Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Farisi is the new head of the company, and he started on Monday, Slate spokesman Jeff Jablansky told TechCrunch. Most recently, Farizzi was an advisor at McKinsey and Bessemer Venture Partners. Faricy left the role at Bessemer to join Slate, according to Newsweek, which first reported the hire.

Slate Auto’s first executive, longtime Chrysler veteran Christine Barman, is now president of vehicles, according to Jablansky. The bartender was Slate’s first hire. The company was still a secret project called re:Car, which was launched at a Massachusetts-based manufacturing incubator called re:Build Manufacturing, as TechCrunch first revealed last year.

Barman stood out not only because she was one of only two female CEOs running a U.S. automaker, but she had become the face of the company since it emerged from stealth in April 2025. She has been featured in many of the promotional videos produced by Slate over the past year, including one last month in which she teased that the company would finally reveal the price of its flagship electric truck in June.

In his new role, Barman will do « whatever we need » to deliver the truck « on time and on budget, » according to Jablanski.

The company, which has raised about $700 million from Bezos and other wealthy backers, at one point advertised that its electric truck would start at « under $20,000 » before Congress and the Trump administration repealed the federal EV tax credit. It is now targeting the mid-$20,000 range for the starting price of its truck. Buyers will be able to customize it in all sorts of ways, including turning it into an SUV, for more money.

Faricy became CEO at a time when Slate is about to begin converting its refundable pre-order list — which now numbers about 160,000 people — into vehicle orders, according to Jablansky.

« Peter’s expertise in building the Amazon Marketplace was really critical for us, » said Jablanski.

A change of CEOs so early in the company’s history can be shocking, although it’s not surprising that the company chose a former Amazon CEO. Bezos helped fund the startup, as did former Amazon CEO Diego Piacentini. The head of the Bezos family office has a seat on the board. One of the co-founders of Slate is Jeff Wilke, who was the CEO of Amazon Consumer. And the heads of Slate’s mobility, UX/UI, e-commerce, fleet sales, and HR teams all worked at Amazon.