Check Out These Wild Polestars Turned Hot Wheels
Swedish EV maker Polestar has announced the winner of its fourth annual design contest, which was held in collaboration with Hot Wheels.
This year, participants were asked to envision a 1:64-scale Polestar that could join the collection of the legendary toy car company. Finalists were selected from over 1,200 entries and then coached by Polestar’s design team to refine their designs towards final selection, reflecting the playfulness and vibrancy of the Hot Wheels brand while still incorporating elements of Polestar's signature minimalist design aesthetic.
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The first prize was awarded to Shashank Shekhar, a professional designer from India, who imagined a rugged off-roader called Polestar TRX. It naturally has oversized wheels, but the most striking feature here is the slim, shark-like body. While the name happens to be shared with the now-discontinued Ram 1500 TRX, the two vehicles are obviously and dramatically different.
It’s easy to picture this thing doing insane jumps and blasting through sand dunes on its way to the beach. In fact, two surfboards are mounted in the rear cargo bed.
Italy’s Powei Chen came in second place with the Cyber Shaker, a muscular coupe that nods to both past and present with eye-catching cyberpunk styling. It arguably looks more like a classic Hot Wheels than the TRX. Also, the colour scheme is incredible.
German designer Roman Moor received an honourable mention for his Polestar Track Toy endurance racer. Who knows? Maybe that’s what Le Mans cars will look like 20 years from now.
As cool as these three designs are, forget about a last-minute Christmas gift: only the Polestar TRX will be included in the Hot Wheels toy car series, with the die-cast collectable available for purchase in the summer of 2025.
"We were looking for innovative ideas with this theme, and the submissions definitely exceeded our expectations,” said Juan-Pablo Bernal, Head of Interior Design at Polestar. “We saw some of the most daring designs to-date. I can't wait to see what the ‘Polestar TRX’ collectible will look like in real life."
Since Polestar’s first design contest in 2021, the competition has highlighted top talent around the world, with many of the students going on to work for the Polestar design team or in the wider professional design industry.
