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Flated Introduces Inflatable Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra Bed Topper

Inflatable vehicle product manufacturer Flated has introduced a new inflatable bed topper for Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, offering the protection and privacy of a standard truck bed shell, with the convenience and ease of an inflatable construction.

The new Flated inflatable bed topper for Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks is made from a “military grade” PVC drop-stitch material, and includes tinted, rollable side windows that provide ventilation on demand, as well as easy access to the bed when it’s needed. The windows are also replaceable and easily zip up.

The inflatable topper is fixed to the pickup truck rails in eight individual locations to keep it secure. When it’s no longer needed, the topper can be deflated and stored away in an included carry bag with backpack-style shoulder straps. The topper also includes a hand pump to inflate it, while an electric pump accessory is separately available.

The Flated inflatable pickup truck Air-Topper is available in two sizes to fit Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, including 79.75 inches in length for standard bed pickups, and 66.5 inches in length for short bed pickups. Width and height measurements are identical at 64 inches and 23 inches, respectively. Pricing starts at $1,899, per the Flated website. Shipping will be available by December 3rd.

Interested customers can check out Flated’s videos for product demonstrations and more information, including this short video demonstration included below:

Flated also offers an inflatable roof cargo carrier, as well as an inflatable pickup truck storage deck.

In further Chevy Silverado truck bed-related news, the fully refreshed 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 will once again be offered in a Regular Cab / Standard Box body configuration in the U.S., as GM Authority exclusively reported in November. The Regular Cab / Standard Box configuration will only be available on the base 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 Work Truck trim level, otherwise known as the WT.

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Source: Flated

Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. At first I was excited, as to have something like that to sleep under or have for other situations where you want further weather protection for bed items would be excellent and is easily removeable. I have always eyed the soft topper but seemed a little steep for the rarity of use, so when I saw this I was thinking it would be excellent and even cheaper. Boy was I shocked to learn this was nearly double the price of the soft topper (which is around $800-1000) at $1900. Hard pass for that, excellent idea, poor execution on price. I don’t see this sell well when being inflatable it is less durable than a canvas option. At least if that gets a tear you can patch it and move on where this it would be harder to patch and will deflate which I imagine is where a good portion of its structure comes from. Again, nice idea but not practical at that price point.

    Reply
    1. The Video below was made for all the questions you had here.



      Ryan

      Reply
      1. Ryan, thank you for the response. Being a founder I am sure you have some excellent insight. I enjoy the novel idea as noted above, but how much of that is profit margin and how much of that is just small company costs versus large company procurement and production savings? It won’t be left on for years at a time, so it doesn’t have to deal with UV and other elements year round to stand up to and be designed for (I can’t imagine anyone would as it is marketed as collapsible and if they were going to want something up all the time there are better and cheaper options). Getting something like this security is not at all a concern as anyone that is shopping this knows it is easy to get in (use a knife or just unzip). Sure it is easy for 1 person to take down (but time consuming) and easy to store but that is more than the starting price of a new name brand painted topper or even a full Wrangler soft top with tinted windows as well as canvas options.

        I am sure being a small startup economies of scale come in to play on the prices you are able to get and production costs. If this was produced by a large company like say Weather Tech I bet it could be down closer to $1000 with their ability to procure material much cheaper and use automated machine labor (which I am guessing you all aren’t yet) while still leaving a nice profit margin and selling more at a lower price. Like I said, I have very little insight to your company and I am sure you want to make some good money on these as well as a new line introduce them at a premium so they are the name brand years down the line that others are compared to. Unfortunately at that price no matter the premium of the material that is going to be tough to swallow for many and a sell for your company.

        Best of luck though, I appreciate the novelty and hope as this ramps up and is successful where price can come down as I could be a buyer of this (if it is developed for 6ft beds on mid size trucks). Cheers

        Reply
        1. CommonSense,

          Lots to unpack in your post above. Pricing and Margin? If you’re a founder you know that no business can survive with out making some sort of margin that covers all the costs you mentioned. Are our products grossly overpriced, or are we trying to take an extreme margin? Not at all. Most business coaches would probably advise us we should have a higher MSRP to survive. A premium/ Well made inflatable SUP will cost over $1000, a Premium/ Well made Whitewater raft will cost over $5k. So when you consider our topper has 4 different Drop-Stitch chambers, the size, Amount of dropStitch material, removable windows, backpack, pump, etc. It’s actually pretty amazing that we can even offer it at $2k, but have to sell direct cause we dont have enough margin to sell through warehouse distributors, where they would also want at least a 50% gross margin per product. But yes you are correct, we are small and new. Overtime I would hope that we can cut some costs by ordering materials in bulk and tweaking designs to minimize wasted material. We are not claiming to have a product that is for everyone, and really not claiming that any other product or brand has a bad product. We just invented something that is 100% new, has never been done, and offers different advantages for people that don’t want the hassle of a traditional hardshell topper, or don’t have the space to store it when not in use. I truly appreciate you taking the time to check out the product and comment here, It’s good for us to know what people are concerned about and talking about.

          Ryan Guay
          CEO/ Co-Founder/ Co-inventory
          FLATED.

          Reply
    2. Depends on where you live. Here in S. Calif it would be too easy to be robbed or attacked by the hordes of criminals Newsom coddles, which is why many of us are planning to move or retire elsewhere.

      Reply
  2. Just wait to the no seeums arrive. Vicious biters. You’ll be scratching nite and day , guaranteed.

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  3. I read “Inflatable Chevy Silverado” and thought a blown up truck baloon! Try to write the description of the item first next time.

    Reply
  4. You can find a small used enclosed trailer at that price Mark Cuban would not invest in it.

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  5. Its ugly as sin

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  6. Speaking of “vicious biters”…. how dog proof is this? Also, with the windows out, I could only imagine how much this wants to take flight on the highway? A driving video showing any movement of the shell (with & w/o windows) would help a lot. High speed + cross-wind stability would be my concern. Sorry, but it seem more like a tailgate party novelty than anything else… I do hope it “takes off” and is a big success for the new owners/investors. Good-Luck!

    Reply

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