Excerpt: "The other was a vehicle called the Strati that was 3D-printed right on the auto show floor last week by Local Motors, an unconventional car company based in Chandler, AZ, and founded in Massachusetts. The Strati’s design was chosen last May from more than 200 ideas submitted online, and its body is made of thermoplastic reinforced by carbon fibers; the material was contributed by SABIC, a petrochemical company based in Saudi Arabia. It took 44 hours to print the Strati’s 212 layers.
Once 3D printing is complete, the Strati moves to a Thermwood CNC router—a computer-controlled cutting machine that mills the finer details—before undergoing the final assembly process, which adds the drivetrain, electrical components, wiring, tires, gauges, and a showroom-ready paint job. Depending on the options chosen by the buyer, the Strati will retail between $18,000 and $30,000, and it is expected to be highway-ready in the next year."
"Customers can also bring their vehicles in at any time for hardware and software upgrades, or they can choose to melt their vehicle down and, for instance, add a seat. Because Local Motors uses a distributed manufacturing system to make only what is purchased, it doesn’t stock inventory."
Full article:
http://www.xconomy.com/detroit/2015/01/22/local-motors-looks-to-disrupt-manufacturing-with-3d-printed-car/
