Would you buy a 3D printed car?

The use and popularity of 3D printers has skyrocketed since they were first unveiled, being used to make everything from art to weapons, but a U.S. based company has decided to up the ante by using this technology to make a fully functioning car.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - With room for two, a retractable roof and powered by electricity, the Strati is a concept vehicle that beat out more than 200 other entries to win Local Motors' 3D Printed Car Design Challenge.

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The Strati was created by Italian designer Michele Anoe, and since being declared the winner, it will be printed out and assembled from scratch at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September.

Judges described Anoe's design as "an excellent balance between innovation, complexity and practicality."

A final prototype will use the electric power-train from a Renault Twizy, but the main body will be printed as one piece. Seats, dashboard, the trunk and hood will also be printed during the show.

Beyond just seeing his concept brought to life, Anoe will also be awarded $5,000 for his design.

Chief executive of Local Motors, Jay Rogers, was pleased with the easy manufacturing of the car. "It took us less than 40 hours to print one car and less than four days to assemble the first prototype which is an unbelievably short amount of time," he said.

"By the end of this summer it will be less than 20 hours of printing, and we believe we can get it down to less than an hour of assembly by two people."

"Our goal in the end is to be radically different about the creation of cars; we sort of commonly say a car today is over 20,000 parts-we would like cars of the future to have less than 20 parts."

Six other car concepts were also recognized, and their designers each received a $1,000 award.

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