I see a future world where cars will be purchased in two very distinct ways.
The first is the way things are at the moment. Essentially, the buyer picks a car off the shelf, chooses the colour, and if he or she is lucky, an engine to go along with a transmission and that's about it. This is the current and old way of doing business.
The old way will remain, but the new approach will be extraordinary.
The second option will involve a near fully custom vehicle. It will begin with independent builders like Local Motors (I'll have a story on them and their mega-awesome Rally Fighter shortly) after which, full-line manufacturers will jump in.
It'll begin with a lightweight, fully modular chassis that can serve as a base for everything from a convertible to a crossover. This is the case today where many different cars are constructed around the same platform. See, we're already on our way.
From then on, only your budget will stop you. Of course, all cars would have to include the full complement of safety features required by law and so a base price could be established with the smallest engine, the safety stuff and little to no equipment.
I, for one, would obviously go for a station wagon body (they will never die!), a turbo-diesel engine, AWD and a manual transmission (how typical of an auto journo...). I would check off power windows, door locks, navigation, HIDs and cruise control. Nothing less, nothing more.
I'm salivating at the thought of it... maybe I'm just hungry 'cause it's almost lunch time...
Today, in Canada, if I want HIDs and navigation, I typically must select a package that also includes leather, a sunroof, parking sensors and Homelink (who the hell uses that anyways?). In my books, forcing people to purchase stuff they don't want in order to get the kit they do is bad business.
The coming of this type of business plan will not happen overnight but mark my words, as the auto business converges and groups like Fiat, Volkswagen, GM and others continue to grow their holdings, the number of chassis/platforms/building blocks will shrink thus making custom cars more feasible financially.
As production lines as extremely sophisticated today (more so in the near future), it will be possible to put together a roadster moments before a CUV comes along followed by my station wagon. I can see it now, it'll be yellow like Big Bird.
As far as Local Motors are concerned, the buyer can actually participate in the building of the car. This may not be possible on assembly lines, but I've got to admit that this is – pardon the vulgar term – cool.
If you don't believe that all of this is possible, consider the growing trend of people purchasing custom bicycles. What comes next in the line of personal transportation? OK, motorcycles, but after that, cars.
The first is the way things are at the moment. Essentially, the buyer picks a car off the shelf, chooses the colour, and if he or she is lucky, an engine to go along with a transmission and that's about it. This is the current and old way of doing business.
The old way will remain, but the new approach will be extraordinary.
The second option will involve a near fully custom vehicle. It will begin with independent builders like Local Motors (I'll have a story on them and their mega-awesome Rally Fighter shortly) after which, full-line manufacturers will jump in.
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| Local Motors Rally Fighter (Photo: Matt St-Pierre) |
It'll begin with a lightweight, fully modular chassis that can serve as a base for everything from a convertible to a crossover. This is the case today where many different cars are constructed around the same platform. See, we're already on our way.
From then on, only your budget will stop you. Of course, all cars would have to include the full complement of safety features required by law and so a base price could be established with the smallest engine, the safety stuff and little to no equipment.
I, for one, would obviously go for a station wagon body (they will never die!), a turbo-diesel engine, AWD and a manual transmission (how typical of an auto journo...). I would check off power windows, door locks, navigation, HIDs and cruise control. Nothing less, nothing more.
I'm salivating at the thought of it... maybe I'm just hungry 'cause it's almost lunch time...
Today, in Canada, if I want HIDs and navigation, I typically must select a package that also includes leather, a sunroof, parking sensors and Homelink (who the hell uses that anyways?). In my books, forcing people to purchase stuff they don't want in order to get the kit they do is bad business.
The coming of this type of business plan will not happen overnight but mark my words, as the auto business converges and groups like Fiat, Volkswagen, GM and others continue to grow their holdings, the number of chassis/platforms/building blocks will shrink thus making custom cars more feasible financially.
As production lines as extremely sophisticated today (more so in the near future), it will be possible to put together a roadster moments before a CUV comes along followed by my station wagon. I can see it now, it'll be yellow like Big Bird.
As far as Local Motors are concerned, the buyer can actually participate in the building of the car. This may not be possible on assembly lines, but I've got to admit that this is – pardon the vulgar term – cool.
If you don't believe that all of this is possible, consider the growing trend of people purchasing custom bicycles. What comes next in the line of personal transportation? OK, motorcycles, but after that, cars.