Autoblog

http://www.local-motors.com/

An American car company that builds cars closer to cities than other car companies.

Google is your friend.

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Edit: By which I mean "assembles the cars in the communities they are sold, so you can watch your car be built with your own eyes." Apparently, they also say their cars will be safer, more efficient, and cheaper than the competition's. Sounds cool if they can actually pull it off.

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It seems like this is still a concept, not a functional operating business yet.

It is interesting, though.

They interviewed a factory five kit builder just a few miles down the road from me... in rural Iowa.

...so I guess Local isn't joking.

I hope this ends up as more than vaporware, although it still would probably remain a toy for the wealthy or entirely obsessed. Nothing wrong with that, other than I am not wealthy enough to be entirely obsessed.

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@luigiian

Ummm...I doubt you can get cheaper than the competition. Wait, who do they consider competition? Obviously not the big manufacturers, because they have volume on their side. Obviously not the exotics, because there's no way they can compete on price and still have the same quality.

Oh yea, what kind of warranty do they offer?

I'm sorry, it just looks like a long shot, especially since the webpage looks like it was created in Word with some sort of web page template. :/

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I am a member of this company and we have been working on several concept ideas for the past few months.
while its kind of hard to tell whether the company is actually legit, i do know that they have been giving out actual design awards for each competition we have been apart of. the winners get 10,000 dollars and the possibility of their car getting produced. the last couple competitions have been much shorter time spans and the prize has gone down to 1500 dollars.

they say that we should not design for them for the money but that we should design for them to see some of our more crazy concept designs go into production

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@jon

I understand the desire to have one's own designs possibly go into production, but it's hard to see the allure of giving a design away for $1,500 (previously as much as $10,000, according to your figures). I mean, if you're doing this as just a hobby, then go for it, but if that's your career, you're probably better off trying to get into the bigger companies payrolls.

I'd hate to sell a design for $1,500 for a car that ends up being put in mass production and sells for $30,000. Not that I'm being greedy, but the company is basically stealing from you at that point.

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Correction...I don't mean stealing, because you're giving it to them. :/

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D, This is Ariel from LM, and we hear you. We will keep it interesting! The RF is still in Process, and we would love it if you guys stopped by the LM site to give your critique. This open development process is incredibly valuable since there is still time to make suggestions and changes on the vehicle's design. What good is it to ask for critiques after the vehicle is finished? Check it out:

http://www.local-motors.com/buildProcess.php

I don't think LM will ever create cars that are "middle of the road" - cars that are meant to pacify the masses. Instead, we aim to fully satisfy a few. The "few" in this case are car enthusiasts from a specific local region with very specific needs and desires. We have yet to announce the location of the first microfactory, but when we do you will know the intended market of drivers. Suffice to say, this is not meant for New York City or Miami; this is for the dunes of So Cal, the mountains of North Carolina or the hills of Texas.

You guys have most of the story straight in terms of what we're about: Local focus in design and manufacturing, etc. The designers who are selected by the community & LM to have their car built automatically win $10k. The prize earned when a car is selected as a build is separate and additional to the competition prizes. The designers will participate in the development process to the extent they desire and the car of their design will bare their name.

At the very least, we are trying something different. If we succeed and can build only exciting cars our specific customers want, and do so in a sustainable, safe and efficient fashion while invigorating local economies - then LM could be a really great addition to American Automotive.

Time will certainly tell!

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