Rally Fighter Interior Competition Comes to a Close

The Rally Fighter Interior Competition voting came to a close today, and if you take a minute (if you haven't already) to review the entries, you will see that this competition is one of the best examples of how powerful crowdsourcing automotive design can be. Although the winner has not been announced yet, the images below are a random sampling of some of the entries you will see in the competition and are in no particular order.

hnut's "RF Interior"

A lot of feedback from designers, buyers, and engineers on just about every single entry. It's clear that the passion everyone feels for exterior design is far from lost when it comes time to look inward. There are so many different factors that must be considered when designing the interior, particularly with the methods we incorporate here at LM like blending existing components with fresh, progressive designs from the highly skilled community of designers we have. To name just a few:

Ingress/Egress and general Ergonomic factors

Materials - how easy are they to be manufactured? Are they lightweight? Are they sustainable?

Components - Is the design simple, yet elegant? Do they fit the use and style of the vehicle? Are we giving the customer everything they need and nothing they don't want?

"Feel" - I put this in quotes because the actual feel of the materials must fit the vehicle and serve ergonomic purpose, but the overall design must "feel" like it's a match.

Mihai's "InteriorCONCEPT"

At first, when I review the designs, I have a feeling that I have to be a "debbie downer" as they say and point out some of the negative aspects of some of these really amazing designs, particularly when it comes to the use of existing parts and difficulty of manufacturing some components, but that feeling is immediately followed by a feeling of inspiration and elation at the fact that together, we are part of something that has never been done, and frankly, is the way things SHOULD have always been done. By that of course, I mean an open and honest forum in which designers, buyers and engineers can discuss designs to meet the best of all worlds. In the end what I'm helping the designers to do is in the best case scenario, help them to create designs that we could incorporate into our vehicles, not merely criticizing their work. Together, we're not only shaping the car - whether it be the interior or exterior - but shaping a new automotive manufacturing model. Very exciting to say the least.

Many congratulations to all that entered the competition and thanks to those that contributed to making this competition a perfect example of the power of community.

webbo001's "Desrt Storm"