What if designers could come up with several styling versions of a car, and sell them all?

What if you could drop your two year old car off at the dealership styling center and have it "re-bodied" with a new design?

What if an auto company designed a platform car with fixed three dimensional body attachment points that were guaranteed not to change for ten years? The engineering underneath could change, but the fixed coordinates could not be altered.

With this fixed three dimensional contract, the aftermarket could invest in designing compelling niche body styles. The money they invest would pay off because the product would be valid for a long period. This would open up the visual aspect of auto style to match the pace of demand and give us more choices.

On a smaller level, Harley-Davidson has been doing this for decades, and because of this, has a huge after market for bolt on products because their basic platform design changes very slowly. Do auto companies see this?

There's room for a new auto company. An auto company that will free us from the tyranny of time to market. An auto company that embraces choice and style and engineers its platform to enable this aspect of car culture.

What do you think? 

Also on MOTORFOOT:

>> The Open Platform Car - Part 2