I’m going to back-date a few entries to the blog that are relevant. Here for example is an article I wrote for issue one of make magazine.

http://www.makezine.com/01/car/

” From MAKE 01: Premiere, Page 44
The Open Source Car: A Design Brief

by Saul Griffith
The time is right for a true people’s hybrid vehicle. The web is peppered with how-to sites for converting your old car into an electric vehicle, but why not develop SourceForge-style documentation for an open source hybrid? ”

In short I’m wondering how far user communities can go towards designing, manufacturing, and supporting, their own products, designed for them, and designed to be modified and individual. I can’t see any fundamental barriers to this model, apart from a lack of supporting software and systems.