If you invested early enough in 3D printing stocks and can now afford a brand new Porsche, you should probably familiarize yourself with Porsche’s online Car Configurator. It lets you chose the model you desire, exterior and interior colour, seats and tens of options for the perfect car. While you do that, you can also choose to switch to 3D mode, and visualize your four-wheeled dream from all angles in gorgeous details, in day time or at night, with front headlights on or off, interior and exterior.
Designing your Porsche can be a rewarding activity even if you are not about to actually purchase one. More so if, instead of stocks, you bought an actual 3D printer. For you, Porsche just released a printable design of its Cayman model. Don’t get too excited, it is not a real car to print in one of those gigantic ExOne or Voxeljet 3D printers, it is just a toy, but it may be a glimpse of things to come.
Direct manufacturing of small numbers of car parts and components is the next frontier for industrial 3D printing. Entire Porsches 3D printed locally are probably a long way down the Autobahn but small replacement parts 3D printed locally in plastic or metal carry a great promise for both the auto and the 3D printing industries.
