Design Inspiration (Continued)

In a continuation of yesterday's discussion, we had a discussion of just how important it is for all members of the team, engineers and designers alike to make sure that both sides know how the design is progressing in order to avoid the disconnect present in so many auto manufacturing companies as I've discussed in the past. This is especially true since this is the first exercise of its type for LM, and we need to avoid setting a bad precedent for future designs, of which there will be many.

After said discussion, Dan and I were talking about the gravity of melding the design constraints with the engineering constraints to avoid what he called the "Silly Putty Effect". By this what he meant was that if you do not keep the engineering constraints like packaging, proportions for right sized components like the engine, wheels and tires etc., the way in which the content (and the amount of content) you originally planned for may not be reasonable, which stretches the design, making the area that was the central part of the design - the meat of the design if you will - very thin, like when you take a ball of Silly Putty and stretch it. If you aren't careful, and you have to stretch the design too much to meet engineering and production constraints you didn't plan for, your "Silly Putty" will eventually snap.

Courtesy: www.sandia.gov

This is the difference between someone seeing the vehicle design initially and being excited about it enough to purchase one and having their expectations met or exceeded and seeing the car in person for the first time and being displeased with the changes and even worse, when they get in the car, if they have trouble getting in or out let's say (something they will obviously be constantly reminded of) it could totally ruin their experience. That's not what we want. To be successful, we need to deliver BOTH a game changing differentiated design, and a well engineered vehicle.

To meet our goals, it will take many discussions like we had today, which at times will certainly have their difference in opinions, and their growing pains, but as long as we continue to have interdisciplinary discussions on a continual basis, there will be no stretching of the "Silly Putty" when we have the vehicle in front of us at full scale.

Design Inspiration

Today, in a preliminary meeting of the design process for the first LM prototype, we decided that it's of utmost importance to stick to the design inspiration as we develop the design rather than arbitrarily saying, "Change this line to look like this," "Make the lights bigger," "Resize the radiator opening." etc. Often, the original design inspiration gets lost easily during the prototyping phase when engineering constraints enter the equation. This is an area in which we have chosen to differentiate ourselves from the large OEM's in order to deliver a game changing design, and methodology of building breathtaking cars.

Sometimes this is easier said than done, but we have our community of designers to thank for making our job a little easier by submitting great designs with a full background on their design inspiration. Also, thanks to the community, we are able to traverse the course of design together to maintain this intent and hit our engineering standards. This will allow us to deliver a vehicle that does what it looks like it should do. This is the difference between "playing" and "posing".

So what is the design inspiration for our first prototype?

That you will have to stay tuned for...

Dealer Experience

I found an article today from Dealer Magazine's website which details tips on how dealerships can improve dealership management and profitability. The author suggests three possible solutions:

"A change in perspective, a leadership shift in focus and most important, process management improvements."

The article then goes on to explain a few tips on how to do so. Although I've never worked at a dealership, all of them seem pretty obvious to me. Things that should be automatic.

Those things aside, I think the most important thing here is to provide that shift in perspective. I've always despised going anywhere where I'm being pressured into a sale. More often than not, it detracts from my desire to put down my hard earned cash, particularly when it comes to cars. To me, a car sells itself. If you want to buy car x, y, z, then you will do so based on what the car says, not the salesperson. Also, create a positive environment filled with people passionate about cars, not so much taking (not to be confused with making) money. The sales staff should be there to simply guide you on the purchase. For example, they should assess what you plan to use the vehicle for, and suggest for or against certain models or even options within models to fit your needs, not theirs.

It's this type of shift in perspective that we will provide in offering better vehicles and in offering a better total customer experience.

Deliberation

Today marked a big milestone in the history of Local Motors.

It was a day in which the entire team deliberated on which design to build for the very first prototype. This included PR personnel, the web team, the designers, interns, owners, advisors and engineers. When you think about it, this in itself is a pretty amazing feat in the automotive world. Not to mention the fact that a significant portion of the discussion also involved input from outside sources from our community of designers. This is just another way we differentiate ourselves from the common auto manufacturer, and will continue to do so with every meeting like this when it comes time to decide the next ground breaking, game changing LM design.

I was glad to see that we are a team made of individuals that have the ability to think across the spectrum of design and engineering to make decisions that benefit the overall being of the company.

Congratulations to the LM team and to our designers!

"Green-backs"

Over the weekend I learned of a few unsuspecting (at least to me anyway) new backers of the green initiative, which for this post, I'm dubbing "Green-backs". The first Green-back is California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his purchase of a Tesla. Not so surprising being that he has the responsibility to set the tone for the initiative in "Cal-e-for-knee-a" as he pronounces it, and not so much because of his background in bodybuilding and the movies as a tough guy action hero, but because of his previous choices in automobiles like HUMMERs (several), and being spotted in a 6.1L V8 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 as early as this weekend. He also has his own jet.

The other Green-back I wasn't expecting were the writers of GQ magazine and their glowing endorsement of cars that aren't hybrids, but very efficient. They seem to know their audience (and some of our customer group at the same time I think) very well, which is reflected in the statement, "If high performance or design is not that important to you, buy a Prius." They gone on to say that "...if you want to have a more balanced approach, consider one of these nonhybrid, but surprisingly efficient cars." The cars they reference are the MINI Cooper S ($21,200, 26/34 MPG city/hwy, 0-60 in 6.7 sec, 172 HP, 177 ftlb), the Porsche Cayman ($49,400, 20/29 MPG city/hwy, 0-60 in 5.8 sec, 245HP, 201 ftlb) and finally the MB E320, which if you've been following my blog, you will know uses our power plant of choice for the first LM prototype - the Bluetec V6 Diesel, which powers the over 3700 lb E320 from 0-60 MPH in 6.6 sec, has 210 HP and a whopping 400 ftlb of torque. Here's what the writers had to say about it:

"Diesel cars are the norm in Europe, but in the U.S. they still hold the stigma of being loud, sluggish, and stinky. The E320 Bluetec will make you a diesel convert, however. It's quiet, clean, and powerful, and has a hybridlike fuel economy. A full tank will take you almost 700 miles."

Couldn't have said it better myself. Maybe you'll see the LM prototype in a follow up article in the pages of GQ in the near future.

Lastly, another reason why I think they may be speaking to some of our potential customers is that the article isn't just about well designed, high performance "green" cars, is that the whole article (the automotive part is only a small section) isn't trying to suggest that you alone can save the planet, but you can make some small adjustments to help out and improve your already well designed, high performance lifestyle. It's aptly titled, "You can't save the planet. But you can eat better than you ever have, travel like you've always wanted to, and surround yourself with beatiful things - and still help out with the environment." (Check it out on pg. 85 of the July 2008 issue)

Slow News Day

Read this article for the "no brainer" of the day.

Do we really need a survey to know this?! I think not!

What I find interesting about what the article has to say however, is that this is the first drop in 5 years, which I would have suspected to be on a steady decline over the last few years. I guess the 27% increase in gas prices over the last year (despite steady fuel economy at 21 mpg) that the article reports were the straw that broke the camel's back.

More proof that it's time to go Local!

Obstacle Course

Today we were having a discussion about engineering goals and platforms as we navigate through the prototyping process through to production. During the discussion I began to think of the previous night when I was in the gym and on the TV was one of these game shows involving a tricky obstacle course, almost all of which inevitably have a portion where the contestant must cross a body of water by jumping from podium to podium, some of which aren't solidly mounted.

The people that keep only the end goal in mind and rush through the course mostly seem to lose balance and fall into the water.

The people that dwell on the short term (making it to that first podium or two) and freeze up take too long to get to the end, or step a bit too long on that podium that isn't solid and fall into the water.

And then there are those that find the right balance between the two and even when they step on the fake podium, they can quickly jump to the next to make it across.

Sometimes as engineers, we tend to focus on the other side of the water and lose sight of the small steps necessary to get there or the other ancillary paths that may help us reach the end sooner, or without having to swim across. Other times, we become fixated on the task at hand and forget that we have a destination and a certain time to do it in. When we're most successful, it is because of a hybrid state of mind.

This "obstacle course" approach is what we will have to take when it comes to both our engine platform and the overall goal of building our prototype in order for us to be successful. The main thing that allows us to stay out of the water and to cross in a timely fashion is that we're doing this as a team. A team that can look at the course and see the other paths when one of us is focused on only one. A team that can alert us of the false steps or how to jump to the next when we do (and we will at times) choose the wrong step.