Local Motors Show Off Transformable 3D-Printed Car

3D printing seems to have taken on new heights, where bigger and better options are now available. Well, there was a 3D printed toy tank that we talked about a couple of days ago, and here we are with Local Motors that has unveiled the 3D-printed electric car that it intends to put on the market sometime next year. This particular design is meant for the 2+2 coupe which was picked as the winner by the company’s crowdsourcing community, where there were around 60 entries to choose from.

The production version will be churned out over at a facility in Knoxville, Tenn., although Local Motors does have hopes to add additional locations in the years to come. It will be sold under the guise of a low speed neighborhood vehicle, where there will be a price tag between $18,000 and $30,000, although the company did mention that there will be a highway legal version that will hit the market before 2016 is over.

The Local Motors business model will revolve around the concept of “micro-factories”, where customers will take part in the assembly of their vehicles. In other words, they will be part of the custom build “kit car” category, which in turn would exempt them from a slew of government regulations which make it close to impossible for low volume manufacturers to gain entry in the US. The amount of time to “build” such a car? Just a few days, that’s all.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Transportation
Tags: 3D Printing