For nearly a year, the igus motion plastics tour has traveled across North America, visiting with more than 4,000 current and potential customers in all industries at more than 160 companies from Mexico City to Toronto. It has now returned to its home base in Rhode Island.

After completing a worldwide tour in 2014, the car, retrofit with 56 igus plastic bearings, was deconstructed at HMI 2015 (Hannover Messe), and put back on the road for a second tour, this time with a focus on North America. Thousands of visitors stopped to see the car and chat with igus team members about their applications, and how plastic technology and components can increase the service life and reduce the cost of applications ranging from automotive design to medical components, and everything in between.

The car’s last day of visits took place in Connecticut, the 42nd US state visited on this leg of the tour alone. More than 80 engineers, purchasing staff, and other visitors stopped by the last day of visits to see the car and learn about igus motion plastic products.

The orange igus car, which has driven 34,281 miles around the world, will be based at igus’ North American headquarters in Rhode Island, making smaller trips throughout the New England area.

The igus car made a visit to our offices here at Design World back in 2014, where our editorial staff got a chance to learn more about the company’s plastic bearing offerings.

For more about the use of igus’ plastic bearings in automotive applications, check out editor Mike Santora’s piece here.