Well that escalated quickly. What started out as a quirky way to fund dance troupes in Topeka, then turned into a way to get a smartphone watch before anyone else, and now crowdsourcing has reached its inevitable end. You can now ask your friends/lover/grandma to pitch in on your very own new Dodge Dart. While this might be the “jumping the shark” moment for crowdfunding, we here at LuckyRobot think it’s brilliant nonetheless.
The idea Dodge came up with is actually an amalgam of crowdfunding and wedding registries. Once you’ve gone online and built the Dart of your dreams – which according to all reports is a pretty decent car and a real step up for the automaker – your friends and family can “sponsor” or chip in to fund select pieces/packages such as the car’s engine or the upgraded stereo you’ve chosen.
The funding process is handled by RocketHub, who take a cut of whatever money is raised. The platform allows future owners to set funding goals as well as the duration of the funding window. The funding period has a maximum of 90 days but no doubt partial funding will still be acceptable – I’d hate to lose out on my new car just because I was missing funding for the left rear tire.
It seems that this approach would work best for big events such as a graduation present or a 16th birthday. While this stunt is clearly more marketing than anything else and won’t be used by all that many people, it will be interesting to see how many actually do use this method and how many of those get the majority of their builds successfully funded. Take a look for yourself at how Chrysler is pushing this idea and watch the video below and don’t be surprised if you get an email from you niece asking you to chip in.
