Introduction to Local Motors – LM Series Part 1

You may have seen our press release on Siemens PLM and Local Motors teaming up today.  Being kind of a car guy who is interested in the new ways to add “social” to “product development”, I’ve been really itching to talk about them.

Local Motors produces a car called the Rally Fighter, a street legal car that is probably even happier as an off road vehicle.

If you read the press release above, you will see Solid Edge ST was chosen for much of their future development. In particular, they have a new electric vehicle open chassis project that they have just kicked off where we’ll be providing Solid Edge for their CAD work. I’ll post later on this project.

Cars are cool and we’ve featured other vehicles on this blog but what is really interesting is HOW Local Motors designs these cars. They use a concept called “Co-creation” that lets them work in a way completely different than other automotive companies.  Here’s a good video explaining how Local Motors works.



I got a chance to visit the Local Motors folks earlier this year and one of the things I liked about them is their never wavering focus on the customer and their community. For them, it’s not just about making something work, it’s about the whole experience.  It is the difference between a cell phone and an Apple iPhone applied to cars.

I’m personally looking forward to learning from Local Motors.  If you are a car person, you can to.  Just visit their site and get involved (follow the link to Local Forge). If you have you own CAD system, you are set. If not, you might grab the 45 day free trial of Solid Edge.

In coming posts, Susan and I will talk more about some of the cool things Siemens PLM and Local Motors are doing together.

P.S. For my social media peeps, you might also “like” Local Motors on Facebook, follow them on twitter ( @LocalMotors ), or bookmark/rss their blog.

(Go to Part 2)