Project splitwheel - user designed car

Thanks again Contagious for this great, if extreme example of people-involvment in product development.



How many of you remember that episode of the Simpsons where Homer is reunited with his long-lost half-brother, Herb, who also happens to be the CEO of a major US car manufacturer? Keen to create a car for the average Joe, Herb puts Homer in charge of a new project and relies on his distinctly common touch to create the next American classic. However the ‘Homer’ which looks like a cross between a lime green hearse and one of George Jetson’s wet dreams proves to be disastrous flop - ruining the company and prompting Herb to disown his brother.

Now that crowd sourcing and corporate transparency are hot topics, The Simpsons once again proves to be curiously prophetic, raising the valid question - do consumers really know what they want? It is with slight trepidation therefore, that we approach Project Splitwheel - described as a ‘revolutionary online project to design and build a new performance car based on collective decision-making.’

www.splitwheel.com

By signing up to join the online community, users will be able to vote on every significant stage of the car's development - making the finished article a truly collaborative creation. However, to avoid another ‘Homer’, Splitwheel’s creators have been careful to gently steer participants in the right direction; for those who are unsure which way to vote, the website contains a blog with expert articles and breakdowns of the trickier technical aspects. There are video podcasts showing performance tests of rival cars, along with forums where members can argue - or rather discuss - the finer points of automotive design. (God forbid someone should suggest running twin sequential turbos without a sufficient intercooling system. Pah!)

However, this is no conceptual exercise; the final design will be submitted to British sports car manufacturer and Splitwheel partner Caterham, which will turn the prototype into a fully-fledged production car by the year 2010.

Splitwheel is the brainchild of Wikitanium - a UK-based company operating online projects to design and build new products in partnership with manufacturers and consumers. Contagious spoke to founder and managing director, Piers Drake:

‘Whether you refer to it as "prosumerism" or "transparency", the fact is that consumers are now better informed, better connected and more willing to get involved with products - from design through to development. The automotive industry is perfect for such an initiative because people are spending large amounts of money on an extremely familiar product. There are countless owners’ clubs, online forums and message boards where people passionately discuss the merits/downfalls of their cars. Our thinking was to channel this activity into an actual outcome and gives consumers the chance to put their money where their mouth is.’

Exciting stuff this - we couldn’t help thinking that it was only a matter of time until someone stepped up and really put crowdsourcing to the test, building collaborative brands from the ground up. One thing’s for sure; projects such as this require a delicate balance between dictating consumer conversations and facilitating them. By harnessing the existing social networking activity and providing users with useful, engaging ways in which to learn and contribute, Splitwheel looks like it may have just struck the perfect balance. We’ll be sure to keep you ‘up to speed’ with any updates *contribute to crowd-sourced groan here*

www.wikitanium.com