GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – 15 February 2024 – In an electrifying mashup that feels straight out of a toy enthusiast’s wildest dreams, Polestar, the trailblazing Swedish electric performance car brand, has teamed up with the childhood-favorite Hot Wheels brand by Mattel, the reigning champion of the toy aisle. The collaboration marks the green flag for the 2024 Polestar Design Contest, a competition that promises to turbocharge the creativity of designers with a theme that’s anything but child’s play.
This year, the challenge thrown down to participants is to channel the unbridled imagination of their younger selves to craft the ultimate Hot Wheels collectible, all while staying true to the sleek, cutting-edge ethos of Polestar. The stakes? The winning design not only earns bragging rights but also gets to zoom into production as the inaugural Hot Wheels x Polestar miniature masterpiece, destined to join collections worldwide.
Designers are urged to let their creativity off the leash, aiming to redefine what’s possible in terms of both aesthetics and performance. The only catch is ensuring that Mattel can bring the vision to life in the classic 1:64 Hot Wheels scale, complete with interior and surroundings that make the miniaturized marvel stand out.
Maximilian Missoni, the mastermind behind Polestar’s design direction, waxed poetic about the power of dreams to fuel innovation, encouraging entrants to “push the Polestar envelope” to its limits. As a nod to the contest’s collaborative spirit, finalists will receive personalized mentorship from Polestar’s design mavens to finesse their entries for the grand finale.
Since its inception in 2020, the Polestar Design Contest has been a launchpad for aspiring and professional designers to showcase their talents, with previous editions unveiling concepts as diverse as pollution-fighting cars and high-tech tree houses. Last year’s contest brought the Synergy concept car to life, a tale of teamwork transforming three unique designs into one electrifying reality.
Ted Wu, the visionary at the helm of Mattel’s vehicle design department, highlighted the shared commitment of Polestar and Hot Wheels to push the envelope of design. He expressed eagerness to see how the design community would rise to this year’s challenge, promising an event filled with unprecedented creativity.
Juan Pablo Bernal, the driving force behind the contest and a guru of interior design at Polestar, anticipates that this collaboration will encourage designers to explore new horizons, blending Polestar’s minimalist elegance with Hot Wheels’ flair for the dramatic.
The race to design the next iconic miniature begins on 5 March 2024, with the submission deadline set for 16 April 2024. Polestar is gearing up to unveil the winning design in the last quarter of the year, promising a showcase of exceptional talent and imagination that could drive the future of toy cars and beyond.
