In the immortal words of Dr. Frankenstein, played by Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein, “It… could… work!!!!”
In my Free Advice for GM series, I suggested an “open source” model of organization as a radical way to remake SATURN into a viable brand. Well, last week I was at a conference where Bob Johansen of the Institute for the Future presented their Ten Year Forecast. One of his examples of the future (in action today) is a company called Local Motors. Check it out, they are already running a car company along the lines I suggested for SATURN.
It’s a small scale, regionally focused car company that uses a growing base of active participants to design, build, and sell cars. Their first model, called the Rally Fighter, was designed by a student!
Does anyone know a SATURN dealer? Send them my way so we can create another example of building cars in a more sustainable, interesting, and profitable way.