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There's a lot of diversity in automobile design if you look outside of the top selling segments. We don't need Saab, we need a model that allows large auto man

There's a lot of diversity in automobile design if you look outside of the top selling segments. We don't need Saab, we need a model that allows large auto manufacturers to make smaller runs of more unique cars without massive "retooling".

tmountain 5y ago
I wonder if the "roller skate" platform for up and coming electric vehicles will allow a more modular manufacturing pipeline and open the door to a wider variety of "shells" for new cars. Ford did a concept recently where they retrofitted a vintage pickup with an electric drive train to advertise their new electric crate motors (https://ford.to/3J2B5WW https://ford.to/3J2B5WW). Personally, I'd love to see more of this, as it really opens the door for a lot of creativity regarding the body styles of what's available.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  My guess is no. I don't think the headache with producing a large variety of cars is the drivetrain. I expect almost all of it is the crash requirements.
camtarn 5y ago
I'm reminded of Honda Motorcycle and its habit of making odd small-run bikes, such as the Valkyrie Rune or the NM4 Vultus. Both of those are in the premium segment of an already premium market (at least in the US/UK/etc) but it's great seeing a major manufacturer do something cool and weird. A bit like a rolling concept vehicle. I'd love to see more of that in the car market, and I'm curious what prevents it. Safety standards might be a big part of that - of course motorbikes have very little in the way of safety systems or crash test requirements, which probably massively reduces the investment required for small-run vehicles. Maintainability might also be part of it: there's just more stuff in a car which might have to be located and packaged differently for a different body shape, which affects anybody who has to work on it, requires a bunch of service manuals to be written, might even require spare parts to be stocked for decades, etc.

tmountain 5y ago

I wonder if the "roller skate" platform for up and coming electric vehicles will allow a more modular manufacturing pipeline and open the door to a wider variety of "shells" for new cars. Ford did a concept recently where they retrofitted a vintage pickup with an electric drive train to advertise their new electric crate motors (https://ford.to/3J2B5WW https://ford.to/3J2B5WW). Personally, I'd love to see more of this, as it really opens the door for a lot of creativity regarding the body styles of what's available.

rootusrootus 5y ago
My guess is no. I don't think the headache with producing a large variety of cars is the drivetrain. I expect almost all of it is the crash requirements.

camtarn 5y ago

I'm reminded of Honda Motorcycle and its habit of making odd small-run bikes, such as the Valkyrie Rune or the NM4 Vultus. Both of those are in the premium segment of an already premium market (at least in the US/UK/etc) but it's great seeing a major manufacturer do something cool and weird. A bit like a rolling concept vehicle. I'd love to see more of that in the car market, and I'm curious what prevents it. Safety standards might be a big part of that - of course motorbikes have very little in the way of safety systems or crash test requirements, which probably massively reduces the investment required for small-run vehicles. Maintainability might also be part of it: there's just more stuff in a car which might have to be located and packaged differently for a different body shape, which affects anybody who has to work on it, requires a bunch of service manuals to be written, might even require spare parts to be stocked for decades, etc.