I’ve only been to Detroit a handful of times and so feel uncomfortable waxing too eloquent about the state of the city. That said, it feels fair to describe Detroit as still quite odd.
The things that you know about – abandoned factories, dilapidated houses and the sprawl – all remain. So too do the efforts to freshen up the place. In the New Year, GM employees will move into the company’s new headquarters located downtown. GM will be occupying part of the Hudson’s Detroit complex, which includes gleaming buildings, a hotel, more offices, retail areas and condos. Hudson’s joins the restored Michigan Central Station as another completed mega project meant to shock Detroit’s economy and vibe back into thriving mode.
This video (available first to our paying subscribers) marks the start of a three-episode Detroit journey in which we’ll explore the city’s technology stalwarts and upstarts and in which we’ll try to give you a real feel for the state of the place. In this first installment, we’re heading to Slate Auto for an exclusive look at the company’s first electric truck factory. Slate has created an affordable, customizable truck that has the internet salivating, although the Trump administration has done little to help the start-up through its tariffs and whacking of EV credits.
