The folks at Local Motors have just finished their latest competition: the Carolina Motors Competition.  Winners have been announced for the event, which tasked community members to design a vehicle for a specific “team”, alluding to the heritage of the SouthEast as an automotive racing capitol.  Over 80 submissions were voted on, and the top three finalists decided upon.  They are:

• Anthony Colard (1st Place) with the “Local Motors Extreme”, a concept inspired by Italian motorcycles (even utilizing TWO Ducati engines!) that is pure high-octane street race car.  Loaded with carbon fiber that stretches from front to rear, the vehicle’s styling is crisp and edgy, although some of the initial design sketches had a nice, smooth form language that was lost in the final renderings.  The use of the color red is traditional for “speed” and well-place throughout the design without appearing too spotty.
• Julien Sarramajean‘s (2nd Place) “Steel Kick”, a Death Race inspired brutal vehicle, replete with skull decals, turbo thrusters, and body armor.  It has a nice, tapering silhouette, and nice use of two-tone graphics for the armor.
• Giulio Partisani‘s (3rd Place) “Vultur 2038″, a vehicle run on cold fusion(!) and quite possibly magic.  Giulio’s sketches, as noted by the press release (see below) evoke that Daniel Simon-esque style: Clean, dramatic, contrasting, futuristic.  Although a little dark, the images are striking.  Depicting a pod-racer style of a vehicle always wins for me, especially one that reaches a little beyond the rest of the competition in invention.  The design is pure speedform.

To see more images of the vehicles and read the press release, follow the link below.

1st: Anthony Collard’s “Local Motors Extreme”

2nd: Julien Sarramajean’s “Steel Kick”

3rd: Giulio Partisani’s “Vulture 2038″

Press Release:

April 9th, 2009

For Immediate Release:  Cars Designed for the Carolinas, To Be Built In the Carolinas

Local Motors, a new American car company wants to bring manufacturing jobs and hot racecars back to the Carolinas

Local Motors, a new American car company based in Wareham, Massachusetts, is designing and building cars for specific local regions.  This past month, the entire Local Motors community, comprised of over 2,300 members, focused on the Carolinas.  Over 80 designs were submitted, each to support a certain “team”: Smoky Mountain Bears, Team Ocean Towns, City Banking Motors, Big Tobacco Racers, Bootleg Racing Gang, or Team Modern NASCAR are all present and accounted for.

The community voted Anthony Colard of France into first place.  His “Local Motors Extreme” for Team Ocean Towns is a heart pounding racecar, which couples two Ducati D16 engines together for incredible speed.  While Local Motors does not currently have plans to work with Ducati, they do currently use parts from different tier one and tier two auto manufacturers.

In second place is Julien Sarramajean for the Bootleg Racing Gang.  Julien’s “Steel Kick” has a 2+1 seating arrangement, and a body armor and rear rocket boost option – practical for bootlegging.  This design is exciting, and without the body armor and rocket option, buildable for Local Motors customers.

Third place goes to Giulio Partisani of Italy.  His designs evoke the great drama of Daniel Simon, and his Vultur 2038 did not disappoint.  Purposed for the City Banking Motors Team, this beauty looks mean and otherworldly.  The Vultur will give Charlotte bankers something to aspire to, as it is not an inexpensive machine.

Jay Rogers, who is the CEO of Local Motors and the Grandson of previous Indian Motorcycle CEO and Owner, Ralph Burton Rogers, has confidence that one day Local Motors will build a Micro-Factory, and a car, specifically for the Carolinas.  “First, we have to find the right design for the region.  Then we can move forward.”  Local Motors is currently working on the facility planning for their first Micro-Factory expected to be in Nevada, Phoenix, or Southern California.  The “Rally Fighter”, a desert-racing vehicle designed by community member Sangho Kim will be built in this Southwestern micro-factory.

A congratulation to the top three winners of the Carolina Motors Competition, as this was an incredibly close race.  Anthony, Julien and Giulio won $1,500, $300, and $200 respectively for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place, as well as custom-designed Local Motors “In the Studio” winners-only T-Shirts.

To learn more about Local Motors, and to vote and comment on the designs you want to own, go to www.local-motors.com.

About Local Motors

Local Motors is a new American car company setting an exciting and sustainable course to design, manufacture, and sell cars.  Revolutionary yet simple, Local Motors creates a direct connection with customers who guide design development based on personal desires.  The outcome of this open, collaborative process is meaningful, exciting cars designed specifically for car enthusiasts in local areas.  Local Motors will build micro-factories in regions where demand is highest and cars are built and sold from the micro-factories on a just-in-time basis.  Both the products and process are sustainable.  Local Motors vehicles feature best in class fuel efficiency while the development and manufacturing process dramatically reduces waste while maintaining the flexibility to incorporate new efficient technology as it emerges.  The design, manufacturing, and sales processes are sustainable and agile while creating a direct physical connection with more fully satisfied customers in each region.

The first Local Motors design concept to be designed by a community of enthusiasts and talented designers worldwide, is the Rally Fighter by Sangho Kim.  You can view the Rally Fighter and contribute to the design development at www.local-motors.com.

Contact: Ariel Ferreira, aferreira@local-motors.com, (989) 600-0534

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All images courtesy Local Motors.