The Need for Speed games have been the gateway to car culture for youths across the globe for decades, introducing kids to badass cars that seemed like they could only feasibly exist in their imaginations. Its newest iteration, Need for Speed Heat, doesn’t disappoint—and it’s because it features a rad-as-hell hybrid Polestar 1.
The trailer came out earlier today, and that in itself is enough to be stoked about. But more eagle-eyed viewers immediately started picking out the different makes and models featured in the near two minute clip. And there’s one pretty surprising feature.
The Polestar 1 can be a little tough to identify at first—some Redditors mistook it for everything from an Aston Martin to a Bentley to a Charger Hellcat. But the Polestar 1 is something of a surprising choice here.
Car culture—and, honestly, the world at large—still really isn’t at the point where we associate plug-in hybrids with speed and adrenaline. (Mention “efficiency” in relation to cars, and there’s a good chance someone will still make a Prius joke.) So it’s extra cool to see NFS make this choice. If you’re gonna play the game, you basically have to concede that yeah, okay, the Polestar is actually really badass.