April 12th, 2010 
Aaron Turpen I watched the latest design competition at Local Motors with interest. The open-source concept for automotive design is really cool and the designs for this Pacific Northwest-oriented conceptual contest were both varied and interesting. Some were bizarre, others were conventional and some were in-between.
My personal choices for a winner in this competition were torn, but one of the top 3 winners was on my short list of picks and ended up taking first place.
The Gaia was designed by Pierre Gimbergues and won this latest Local Motors competition. I thought the overall concept fit with the Pacific NW’s ideal lifestyle. You can read more about the design by clicking the photo above.
The Raiden, above, designed by Luci is another great concept that is, ultimately, mostly realistic. Many of the concepts given in the contest were, being concepts, somewhat outlandish and not realistic in expectations of drive train, manufacture, etc. This is one of the more down-to-earth models presented, though it didn’t win any prizes. One of its coolest design features is the sliding rear tray that opens up for easy access to the entire battery pack.
This design, “Rocky,” is one of the less realistic offerings I told you about. Aerodynamically, it’s a huge fail, but visually it’s one of the most striking. Like a couple of the other designs presented (including one of the placers), Rocky is also physically huge in size. In fact, it’s scope makes it a sort of SUV/Motorhome/Humvee mashup.
Overall, the competition was fun to witness and even more fun to participate in. It was my first time actively engaging in the process at Local Motors and it was well worth the time. I plan to continue to do so, as time permits. Luckily for the others competing in these contests, though, I have tons of ideas but no artistic skill, so I probably won’t be submitting anything myself.
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