Thought 3D-printed shoes were cool? Meet Local Motors’ new Strati, the world’s very first 3D-printed car.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, give a crowd-sourced company a random assortment of car parts, a 3D printer, and six days, and what they create will be incredible: Local Motors, a Phoenix-based automaker, has introduced the first 3D-printed car.

The Strati, which is Italian for “layers,” is a small, electric two-seater roadster with a top speed of 40 mph and a 120 mile range. That may not sound like much, but competitors such as the Chevrolet Volt can only achieve 40 miles on battery power! This makes the Strati much more usable every day thanks to the lack of dreaded “range-anxiety”.

The Strati was built in three phases over a period of six days at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Illinois. In phase one, the car was 3D-printed in over 44 hours, using a Cincinnati Incorporated Big Area Additive Manufacturing Machine (BAAM). The BAAM uses state-of-the-art technologies such as additive manufacturing, which uses a digital model of an object to print it in 3D. In phase two, a machine provided by Thermwood CNC Routers took a day to mill the car. Finally, phase three involved a rapid assembly of all of the parts; Local Motors got the battery, motor, wire and suspension units from other manufacturers as well as the powertrain from a Renault Twizy, another electric car. Eventually, this whole process could be shaved down to a period of two days.

So, how much for this little slice of genius? Well, if the Strati is approved for the general public in the next few months, it could cost between $18,000 and $34,000, according to Local Motors. “$34,000 for a car the size of a shoe?!” you may cry in anger and surprise. Yes, but remember that this technology is still very young and costs will likely be slashed in a few years.

So, overall, what is the Strati? A car, yes, but it is so much more than that. It is a step into the future, an example set by a few ambitious engineers who decided to think outside the box. The bar has been set. Automakers of the world, look out: There’s a new kid on the block.