This is the Rally Fighter, a kit car built by Local Motors, an upstart builder based in Massachusetts. Unlike most of the other custom-built cars at SEMA, the Rally Fighter was designed entirely through the use of crowd sourcing.
Through competitions on its Web site, Local Motors asked users to submit designs and let the community choose its favorite. The Rally Fighter came out on top, so Local Motors commissioned the build and used crowd sourcing for everything from the engineering to the materials.
It uses a BMW twin-turbo diesel power plant and various off-the-shelf parts to keep costs down. Local Motors says it plans to eventually build as many as 3,000 Rally Fighters and sell them for around $50,000 apiece. Other models are expected to follow, all chosen and designed by committee.
It's an interesting idea and the Rally Fighter looks to have turned out well. But to be clear, the Rally Fighter is not a car, and Local Motors is not a new kind of car company. At least not yet. Click through to find out why.
Although the Rally Fighter meets certain federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS), owners will still be required to register it as a custom-built vehicle. This is easier in some states than others. California, for instance, only grants 500 custom vehicle registrations a year, and they're typically snapped up in a matter of days.
Even if owners manage to get their Rally Fighters registered, the vehicles will have none of the safety equipment found in your typical new car. No airbags, no energy-absorbing bumpers and no crash testing.
We asked a Local Motors spokesperson if this will change as the business ramps up. The answer was no. The company plans to build vehicles for niche segments only, so the volumes will never justify getting full federal certification. In other words, the company will avoid having to spend money on building all the things that make real cars expensive.
Don't get us wrong. The concept behind Local Motors is still a powerful one, but the idea that it will compete with the big OEMs in certain niche segments is ridiculous. Instead, it will simply compete with the dozens of other custom carbuilders that already exist, you know, like the ones that helped create SEMA in the first place.
Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor
tyndago says:
02:32 PM, 11/ 6/09
They can't legally offer this "car" for sale complete.
This kind of business model/car company does not work in the US. There are no exemptions.
If its a "kit" they can't offer it with an engine.
Some people seem to build the car first, and do no research on what it takes to actually sell one.
estreka says:
03:42 PM, 11/ 6/09
^ I'm reminded of the underpants gnomes from South Park. "What's step 2!?"
ariferrari says:
09:34 AM, 11/ 9/09
Hi, Ed - Thanks for bringing up an important point about the Rally Fighter & Local Motors. As you stated, we are not bringing cars to market in a traditional manner. While Local Motors cars are not "kit" cars, they will be registered as custom vehicles. Local Motors cars are designed with customer input- and they are also safe, efficient and designed to meet federal expectations.
The case of registration varies by state, and California will certainly set the bar as to how we will streamline our process, bill of materials, and emissions test to make it as easy as possible. The EPA regulations are a huge factor in the limited availability of custom vehicle registrations, and the Rally Fighter will become known as one of the most efficient rides under the "custom vehicle" umbrella; this will improve the custom registration process. Remember that SB 100 is more about bringing emissions compliant cars to market than anything else, and we will only build strictly emissions compliant vehicles.
We're not saying you won't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to stand in line in California to register your custom ride - but it will be doable. And if you care deeply about having a car you love, it will be worth it.
Safety will always be a primary priority, and with the Rally Fighter we have built a very safe vehicle. The Rally Fighter is designed and built with all of the EPA and FMVSS standards in mind- as will all of Local Motors vehicles. Until we break ground to reduce the expense of crash testing, our vehicles will be built and sold in this manner. In the meantime, if/when a Local Motors vehicle reaches a scale that merits the substantial cost of current federalization and crash testing processes, we are prepared to immediately meet expectations without an entire vehicle redesign.
On your specific note about energy absorbing structures, like bumpers, the Rally Fighter does have them and they were in place at the SEMA show. These structures come from current OEM vehicles of matched weight and placed according to the FMVSS requirements. Please note this in your post.
The dash was not complete when you saw in the Rally Fighter, though it is in the process of being designed to fit existing OEM airbags, and we are currently working with a company that can properly tune them to work within a given vehicle. You are correct that the Rally Fighter is not currently equipped with airbags.
We deliberately started our vehicle lineup with a large vehicle because the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has repeatedly shown that size (not weight, and not system) is the greatest determinant of safety in a crash.
Crash testing, airbag integration and federalization procedures will become more accessible to smaller car companies soon- at least the ones who are willing to meet FMVSS and exceed EPA regulations. We are doing what is possible NOW to bring exciting and safe cars to market at an accessible price, even at limited production. We feel that large-scale manufacturing is in itself part of the problem of why all the global automakers have run into an unsustainable impasse of mismatched supply and demand. To bring America forward in manufacturing in general, we all must figure out a better way to match customer expectations in a timely manner.
We have built a new production-ready vehicle through an experience that many people are anxious to be a part of. Through the feverish help of a very passionate and active community, we are able to bring cars to market that our customers actually WANT, WHERE they want, and WHEN they want- and we're doing so with limited capital. We are just getting warmed up, and our process will continue to improve.
Thanks for stopping by at SEMA, and please reach out with questions. I'll stay tuned!
Ariel
Local Motors
aferreira@local-motors.com
@LM_Ari
zoomzoomn says:
08:08 AM, 11/10/09
You know, this would be a sweet ride if it were toned down and lowered for street use!