"You wouldn't steal a car, would you?"

...is the tagline to those irritating adverts to stop video piracy you get on DVDs.

To which some wag invariably replies 'Well, I would if I could just download one!'.

That day, it seems, is getting closer:

It looks like the days of haggling with a dodgy bloke in a sheepskin jacket could be numbered – soon you could just have a fresh car printed out.

Tell me more!

The electric hybrid prototype is called Urbee and its makers claim using the environmentally-friendly technology lets the contraption do 170mpg.

Instead of playing around with molten metal alloys, the manufacturing process involves 3D printers depositing droplets of a polymer which fuse together.
With each pass of the printer cartridge, the base on which the object is being made moves down a notch and so, little by little, it begins to assume its futuristic body shape. When making the complex bits, the structure is supported by a water soluble material which is washed away when the process is finished.

OLK, admittedly, it looks like a cross between an egg and KITTs smaller, retarded and deformed brother, plus it's creators are solidly 'green' in outlook, but even so...

Mr Kor said a realistic target to begin with would be to produce 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles a year.

With that level of production, he estimates the vehicle would have to retail for between £18,500 and £31,000.

However, if it ever becomes mass-produced, that price could drop to as low as £6,200 to £7,400, he said.

Gentlemen, start your engines BitTorrent!