It’s a Phoenix-based company that sees its destiny tied to Las Vegas.
Local Motors, a startup seeking to shake up mass automotive manufacturing by bringing a 3D-printed car to market in 2017, has a small factory downtown and is looking to build a larger factory about 10 times the size. It’s partnered with UNLV, its leadership talks to local transportation leaders and its investors include the Vegas Tech Fund. Looking ahead, it’s exploring partnerships with organizations like MGM Resorts and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
On Wednesday, the company’s top executives were in Las Vegas at the SEMA Show to unveil a 3D-printed concept car, a red beach cruiser called the LM3D Swim. The company plans to begin pre-selling the car through a crowdfunding campaign in the spring, making it available for retail in 2016 and delivering the cars in early 2017. That vehicle is expected to start at $53,000.
Apart from using advanced composites, what makes Local Motors unique is how it structures its manufacturing process. Instead of employing a team of full-time engineers and designers, it crowd sources its designs from an online community. Instead of constructing mass factories, it uses microfactories, shops that are part factory, part showroom and part dealership. With up to six 3D printers, each small plant will produce about 2,400 cars per year (the company currently has three microfactories with another under construction at National Harbor in Maryland).
The company’s goal: to use crowd-sourced designs and industrial 3D-printing to localize car manufacturing, tailoring its cars to the specific needs of clients or the needs of a region.
And Local Motors sees possibilities in Las Vegas. The LVCVA, for instance, could one day purchase a fleet of Local Motors vehicles designed for transportation at conventions. It also sees natural opportunities with MGM Resorts, given its interests in Las Vegas and National Harbor.
The Sun spoke with Local Motors CEO John "Jay" Rogers about Las Vegas and misconceptions about the car, including safety concerns. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why pick Las Vegas as one of your locations?
Forty million people on the Strip. The other thing: Most people don’t understand, Local Motors is about industrial tourism. The reason is that today, in order to get industrial tourism, you have to go to Germany or you go to an Ikea where you’re like: “That’s wild. That’s what they do in Sweden?” And so I want them to come to Vegas and say: “Whoa, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A car is made in that factory. In Vegas.” That’s what we want.
Do you want people to eventually come to the factory and buy the car?
Bottom line: I want people to have an experience from an industrial tourism point of view. What is Vegas like? What does the tech community look like? And where are those amazing cars made? And I want as many of them who can do that to buy the car. But we also will (make sales) over the Internet, whether its with a partner like Amazon or a partner like Alibaba.
And is your work with LVCVA and MGM Resorts aimed at attracting people?
Oh yeah. When you think about what we’ve done, we’re here, but we’re also in National Harbor, which is where MGM is putting up their newest casino. And we are thinking big about what we could do for LVCVA and what we could do for MGM and other customers like that.
So how would those partnerships take form?
It’s really simple. National Harbor has miles and miles of roads — to go shopping, to go eating, to go to the waterfront, to go to the Ferris wheel. You just don’t walk it. When you are in a closed community like National Harbor, you can’t call an Uber. Those kinds of areas we’re going to dominate in. What we’re going to say is: “Get a Local Motors vehicle because it’s a system.”
So you want them to get a Local Motors vehicle then?
A fleet of them. Because it’s also on brand. We’re not a concept car company. We don’t have to wait for tooling. (Our process is) rapid iteration, rapid product. If MGM wants one for their Vegas property, think about the style and design that’s there. We can make it whatever they want.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about 3D-printed cars?
That it’s unsafe. A huge misconception. That started before 3D-printing. Most of the world believes heavy cars are safe. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has proven that the safest cars in the world are the lightest, the biggest and the most well-built …
Now if you think about that, what does 3D-printing do for me? I can print at any size because my tooling didn’t cost me anything. I can take materials that are inherently lightweight and put them where they need to be and not where they don’t. In terms of well-built, I can put material in any axis that I need it to be. On my body, I go from nail to cuticle, from bone to muscle to skin. The 3D-printer can do that. It can go from squishy to hard to thou shall not intrude. That’s amazing.
Have you done crash testing and highway safety?
We’re doing it right now.
Are you optimistic about being certified?
I am completely confident.
One of your goals is to disrupt mass manufacturing. How far away are we from me having a 3D printer in my garage and me being able to print a car or a fridge?
Very far away. I don’t think that will ever happen. Famous last words.