For a while now I’ve been thinking about the auto industry and the future of cars.  Thinking about the billions spent on research and development and marketing, and wondering how the industry could be more competitive and efficient.  So I had this crazy idea.  What if there was only a single company that made the engine and guts of the car. What? No competition?  I know it sounds crazy, but lets entertain this idea for a minute.

BMW Concept

When you buy a car, do you really care that it has gold spark plugs, or that the muffler is on the right instead of the left? How much of the engine do you really, really care about?  Car A and Car B are identical except for the fact that Car A has 25 more HP.  Does it really matter? What if car B was $1500 less? Does it matter then?  I say no…well at least not for me. I think the exterior and interior, i.e. the look and feel are what matter most to people, eventhough they think they bought their car based on full due diligence.  Show of hands, which current BMW owner would have bought their BMW if it looked like a VW Bug but was all BMW inside? If you said yes, then that extra 0.358 seconds you’ll save to go from 0-60 mph must be really, really, REALLY important to you.

GM's E-Flex Hydrogen Fuel Cell System

I believe a single company, lets call it Engine Inc., focusing solely on this, could create the most efficient, environmentally-friendly, cheapest, reliable engine/internals.  In the process, billions would be saved since now you wouldn’t have each car company spending billions only to produce 2 engines whose only difference is a few HP.  The result could be something that “looks” like GM’s E-Flex Hydrogen Fuel Cell System. Just a platform upon which the rest of the car can be securely mounted. (Please note that this isn’t a post supporting GM or any paritcular technology in anyway. I have my gripes with most of our car companies due to their greed and inferior products.)  Engine Inc. would produce a few different platforms that would be used in sedans, SUVs, etc. These platforms would be the best that can be humanly built, given our currentl level of intelligence.

Toyota RiN

This would pave they way for a whole suite of companies that would solely focus on the rest of the car.  The creativity of the human mind in designing automobiles would finally be freed from its current prison!  (Ok that was a little over-the-top.) Now car shopping would simply involve picking a platform and a shell.  You’ll be able to configure the exterior as well as interior any way you like.  Red leather seats? No problem. Want to trade in your hard-top for a convertible during the summer? No problem.  In addition to benefits to you, the consumer, there’d be benefits to mechanics all over.  Instead of thousands of car systems, without standard parts, there would only be a handful. Repairs would be easier and more straight-forward. In the end cars as we know would be even more a reflection of ones personality than they are today.

 Check out these other interesting concept cars:

Volvo Anttis Concept

Mazda Kiyora Concept 2

Saab Aero X Concept

But thinking realistically do you think the auto industry would survive this change? Would you even consider buying a car this way?