I’ve been in the car business as a customizer, restorer, hot rodder all my life and now as a consultant to smaller comapnies in the aftermarket looking for the next big thing. I know where where the market is going (as it has been since cars were introduced)- creating a vehicle that reflects the owners’ personality.

That’s why customizing and hot rod shops stay busy because there’s a market for improving what the car makers start. And in the car business big words and high tech terms are not even on most car buyers mind. They just want to know what it will do for them, how they look in it, is there a cool factor and how much it will cost.

I own a 1956 Chevy 2-door wagon, equipped with an LS-4 engine, overdrive transmission, A/C, ultra leather int., and all the creature comforts I want. It looks cool, turns heads, runs and drives better than a new car, is very dependable and gets close to 30MPG at 75MPH and it will go up in value. There’was no rocket science to building it and it cost under 30K to do most of it myself. Of course if you had it built, it would be twice that price but the point is, the personal factor with cars is old school and will never go away as long as we have entrepreneurs and innovators willing to give the consumer what they want. Now all the car makers needs to do is focus on that characterisitic and maybe they’ll ride the money train.

I take issue with the reference to “component-jacking”, not because you are incorrect, but because it is a standard industry practice. New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc (aka, NUMMI) is a joint venture of Toyota & GM – sharing parts agogo. The Pontiac Vibe was one of the best-selling Pontiacs and featured a Toyota engine, and if I’m not mistaking, a Corolla platform.

This is simply good use of a mutually beneficial relationship. The use of external components is different than NUMMI (as far as I know), and perhaps Morgan is the closest comparison for this. But at least we are designing unique chassis

LM vehicles will meet all safety requirements. We are not planning to get around the hurdles, we are planning to jump them in the same manner as other car makers.

Ariel

aferreira@local-motors.com
@LM_Ari

Again, nice if it works out, and there are plenty of things that I do like to get locally, even if it costs a bit more. But remember that it wasn’t until the production line that autos could come down in cost enough that average people could start to afford them.

I must disagree. It’s a nice thought. but if their business model depends on having off-the shelf parts and then putting together “custom” autos, they need the parrts in the first place. Unless they’re going to have such demand that they can afford to get parts makers to do the very expensive engineering, tooling, and manufacturing investment to start making those parts. At which point it’s another big auto comapny and needs a lot of volume of those parts to swing the deals economically.

That’s not to say that a company couldn’t figure out how to use standard parts and then somehow build a “custom” machine. But then the labor going into putting together the custom vehicle needs to be paid for as well. Sorry, but I don’t see how this works without being enabled by the large volume of parts that the big car manufacturers made possible in the first place.

Correct that different companies make the parts. But they only engineer and manufacture them because someone has created the demand for the parts, so they can make them at a cost-effetive level. Those parts are made to what were originally big auto manufacutrer specs. No parts manufacturer is going to bother with taking your order unless you can write a honking big check. And to do that, you can’t base your business model on being able to get the off-the-shelf parts that haven’t been designed yet. It becomes a circular argument, and one that does not work economically.

Yes, slow food is the perfect example. There are a couple of slow food restaurants and several more that attempt to brand themselves that way, but the total market is smaller than what Denny’s spends on napkins. (Ordinary restaurants are significant and holding their own.)

Slow food is an extremely small niche that isn’t growing – even the smug has plateaued. Is that really your model for journalism going forward?

People will say that they care about a lot of things. However, the difference between what they say and what they do is important if you’re trying to sell them things.

I’m continually impressed by Ford’s media strategy and clarity of communications. Even under pressure you guys are forthright & accessible.

This is huge, especially for a company of Ford’s scale.

Ford & Michigan are lucky to have you!

Ariel

Another reason why customers don’t think much of journalists may be that many journalists act as if they’re entitled to get paid to do what they want to do. No one else has that entitlement, so why should journalists be any different? (The answer shouldn’t include anything that journalists promise but don’t actually deliver.)

You’re free to try to deal with customers on whatever terms you’d like, but they’re not obligated to accept said terms. The fact that each party is free to set its own “walk away” conditions doesn’t make either one of them assholes.

I like this and I need a car. Ready to buy….

shane

So, let’s have ‘em. Who knows? We may yet get Tuk Tuks here in Silicon Valley.

bob wyman

Thanks for continuing to push the envelope on the automotive industry. As I’ve said before (and we never got to catch up at SXSW as we initially discussed), I’d like to have you come to Dearborn to see what’s going on at Ford. As you know, we’re in a different place than most of the other major auto manufacturers, and I’d like you to kick the tires and lift the hood, so to speak, on what we’re doing to innovate, from communications to product development and more.

Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
@ScottMonty (best way to reach me)

The focus on enthusiasts is important, especially at the beginning as we begin to put cars on the roads.

As Jimmy pointed out, not everyone wants to build their own car or participate in every aspect of the process (or ANY aspect of the process, for that matter). But at the beginning, if you want an LM car you will have to make it happen – the community and customers are not invited out of courtesy, they are absolutely vital to Local Motors and to making Local cars happen.

And the community, both local and virtual, knows this. This drives them.

In the future the format may change so that people who are less interested in the entire process can simply visit an LM micro-factory and pick up the car they love.

For now, if you want to see the car you desire come to life – it’s up to you (car enthusiasts) to make it happen.

Ariel

aferreira@local-motors.com