Local Motors, Inc. recently announced that the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) will be the first customer for its previously announced 3-D-printed production vehicle. Local Motors will build and deliver the first direct digital manufactured vehicle at IMTS 2014 in Chicago, Illinois, September 8-13, 2014. Designed by the company’s global community and built using the material science and advanced manufacturing techniques available at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Local Motors will produce an electric vehicle purpose-built for the urban transportation needs of Chicago.

IMTS, the largest and longest running manufacturing technology trade show in the United States, is held every two years at the McCormick Place Exhibition Center in Chicago. At IMTS 2012, Local Motors built their flagship Rally Fighter from the ground up in 5 days over the course of the six-day show. This year, AMT and Local Motors have partnered to demonstrate how sustainable green technologies, utilizing advanced manufacturing techniques that are both additive and subtractive, can deliver stronger, safer, faster, more efficient vehicles.

“IMTS is the perfect venue on which to showcase the next evolution of Local Motors’ World of Vehicle Innovations,“ said Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers. “To deliver the first co-created, locally relevant, 3-D-printed vehicle on an international stage dedicated to celebrating cutting-edge manufacturing technology is powerful reinforcement of our commitment to driving the Third Industrial Revolution.”

“Local Motors is undeniably the first disruptive entrant into the U.S. automotive industry in decades,” said Bonnie Gurney, director - communications for AMT. “The innovations they are driving in the design, manufacture and sale of vehicles has been empowering individual innovators since 2007. Partnering with them to deliver safer, more functional, lightweight and efficient vehicles via new, innovative manufacturing technologies is core to our commitment to bring global technology advancements to the local level.”

The finished vehicle will be used as an example of how sustainable green technologies can reduce life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions, lower production cost, and create new products and opportunities for high paying jobs.