A (Pole)star designer for Hot Wheels announced

Shashank Shekhar created the winning design, the Polestar TRX.    Photo: Polestar

Polestar has announced the winner of its design collaboration with Hot Wheels with the creation set to become a real die-cast scale model car you can buy. 

Swedish electric brand, Polestar, invited contestants to submit designs inspired by Hot Wheels 1:64 scale and Polestar’s distinctive design language.

Shashank Shekhar, a professional designer from India, won first prize for his rugged off-roader, ‘Polestar TRX’. 

The concept, with its exaggerated proportions and sleek surfaces, presents a bold interpretation of Polestar's normally subtle design philosophy. The design becomes the first Polestar to be included in the Hot Wheels toy car series, with the die-cast collectable available for consumers in the summer of 2025.

“I'm thrilled to win. This will be the first design in my career to be produced, so it's a big deal for me. I never thought that someday, something I have created would end up as a Hot Wheels car,” said Polestar Design Contest winner Shashank Shekhar.

The 2024 contest attracted over 1,200 participants.

“It has been a great journey, and I've had an amazing time so far. Something like this gives you a lot of confidence as a young designer.”

Now in its fourth edition, the Polestar Design Contest is an exciting opportunity for both professional and student designers to showcase their visions of automotive design. Since the first contest, 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.

This year's unique partnership with Hot Wheels encouraged participants to push their creativity even further, resulting in some of the most exciting concepts to date.

The 2024 contest attracted over 1,200 participants from around the globe, making it one of the largest editions of the annual competition to date. 

Judges were instructed to seek out designs that reflected the playfulness and vibrancy of the Hot Wheels brand while still incorporating elements of Polestar's signature minimalist design aesthetic.