Next year you can buy a 3D-printed car from Local Motors for $53,000

By Editorial Team Last updated Feb 16, 2017

Last summer we told you about the world’s fastest 3D-printed supercar. While that seemed like a fantasy, 3D-printing has finally hit the consumer automotive market. While it’s no supercar, Local Motors has just unveiled the LM3D Swim, a fully 3D-printed vehicle, and pre-sale will begin next spring.

Last year, Local Motors live-printed the world’s first 3D-printed car at SEMA and now it will be doing this regularly.

The vehicle will be 75% 3D-printed, including the body panels and chassis. The company’s goal is to get about 90% 3D-printed. To print, Local Motors decided on a blend of 80% ABS plastic and 20% carbon fiber, but also wants to find new materials to print with in the future.

The LM3D Swim was designed by Kevin Lo, a Local Motors community member who won the company’s Project Redacted challenge in July. The winning design was chosen by community votes and a judging panel that included former Tonight Show host Jay Leno and SEMA Vice President of Vehicle Technology John Waraniak.

“In the past few months our engineers have moved from only a rendering to the car you see in front of you today,” said Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers at SEMA. “We are using the power of DDM to create new vehicles at a pace unparalleled in the auto industry, and we’re thrilled to begin taking orders on 3D-printed cars next year.”

Local Motors was able to bring the concept to reality over a period of just four months with help from software developed by Siemens

Local Motors recently partnered with IBM to create interactions between the microfactory, 3D-printed vehicles, drivers and the outside environment in order to provide increased safety in the new vehicles.

The company plans to develop and launch a series of apps and connected products to go along with the car.

New models in the LM3D series will be released over the course of 2016. Presales of the cars are expected to begin in spring 2016 with a targeted MSRP of $53,000, manufacturing and delivery of the vehicles are expected in early 2017. All cars in the LM3D series will be built at a new Local Motors microfactory in Knoxville, Tennessee.