You Can Now Trade Fine Art for the $155,000 Polestar 1 Hybrid Sports Car
Cryptocurrency isn’t the only new way to buy a car. Polestar’s now accepting fine art as a form of payment.
The Volvo sibling company has announced that you can now trade art for the Polestar 1. The brand-new, first-of-its-kind program allows both artists and collectors to get their hands on one of the low-volume hybrid sports cars before it goes out of production without having to open their wallets.
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But you can’t just draw a stick figure on a piece of paper and head to your nearest Polestar dealer. While the automaker says it will accept “paintings, sculptures, photography, installations and more,” the piece needs to pass a preliminary evaluation by internationally renowned art advisor Theodor Dalensen, who has worked with the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. If Dalensen approves of the piece, it’ll then be valued by Sotheby’s and Phillips auction houses. If it’s accepted after successfully passing these two phases, the $155,000 Polestar 1 is all yours.
It’s not fully electric like the Polestar 2, but the brand’s first production vehicle is something special. Featuring a design that’s at once elegant and sporty, the coupé is powered by a hybrid gas-and-electric powertrain that produces a combined 619 horsepower and 738 ft lbs of torque. While the car was a hit with the automotive press, Polestar was clear from the beginning that it would only build the sports car for three years, the last of which is 2021.
“I love the idea of letting artists and collectors buy a Polestar 1 with art—it is such a special car and we wanted to find a unique way of celebrating it before its production reaches an end,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement. “It is hand-made, precious and tangible, much like a piece of art.”
Polestar’s novel financing plan runs from now until August 15. You might end up swapping an artwork valued at more than the Polestar 1’s starting price, but considering that its production run is almost up, that might be a gamble worth taking.
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