The Showroom as Assembly Line: New Technology Is Changing the Way in Which Automobiles Are Designed, Developed and Customized

In the past, automobile buyers had to choose between the ride of, say, a stretch limousine and the fuel efficiency or manoeuvrability of a small-sized car. No longer. The emerging premiss of recent developments in flexible hardware, coupled with programmable electronics or software, is to allow buyers to customize their cars with the exact mix of "ride" and "feel" characteristics that they want — not those which automobile companies bundle into a limited number of available model types. Such a buyer-driven approach to customization may, oddly enough, make Alfred Sloan's mass-production model valid again. But this time, instead of the final assembly taking place in the factory, it will take place in the showroom or right in the driver's seat.