Polestar Launches Global Design Contest 2022

Polestar has opened the 2022 iteration of its Polestar Design Contest with the theme for this year being ‘Performance’. The contest was first introduced in 2020, and is a platform for aspiring professionals and student designers to create visions for future polestar concepts. Participants can currently submit their entries online on Polestar's website with the last date of submission being August 31, 2022. Following all submissions, Polestar will crown two winners - one for exterior design and one for interior design. The winning design will transition to a full-size 1:1 scale model that will be showcased on the Polestar stand at one of the biggest events of auto shows, the Auto Shanghai in April 2023.

The finalists from this year's competition will be announced on November 1 with the winners set to be revealed on November 11, 2022.

"For a design to be presented on the world stage in much the same way as one of Polestar’s own concept cars is a money-can’t-buy opportunity for any designer," says Maximilian Missoni, Head of Design at Polestar. "We want to encourage, support, and celebrate innovative design, and the people who realize it. What better way to do that than to present a full-size model of their creation centre stage at one of the largest automotive shows in the world?"

Entry from the Polestar Design Contest 2021.

Since its inception in 2020, Polestar says that the design contest has featured a “variety of vehicle and cutting-edge concepts” from around the world. These included an electric-and-helium airship, a car that reduces pollution via externally visible air filters, a luxury yacht, and prosthetic springboard blades for walking. The previous two years featured the themes of ‘Pure’ and ‘Progressive’

“I believe this year’s 'Performance' theme will capture the imagination of a design community that has responded extremely creatively to our Design Contest thus far," says Juan Pablo Bernal, Interior Design Manager at Polestar, and founder of the Polestar Design Contest. "I’ve been truly inspired by the array of submissions that continue to harness the essence of our brand in such a captivating way. We expect this year will be no different – the paradigm has shifted from the high-consumption performance of the 20th century, so we are looking for design ideas that embody that shift.”

Polestar says that participants are not required to share designs of a car though all entries need to be a Polestar. The shortlisted candidates will receive one-on-one coaching from Polestar’s designers while finalists will receive digital modelling support from the company and hard model production of the winning designs.