Polestar's Formula 2030 concept puts swappable buttons at the centre of the driving experience
Polestar, the Swedish electric car brand, has unveiled the Formula 2030, a concept car whose dashboard buttons can be swapped around and set to each driver's taste. A concept car is a show model built to preview ideas, not a vehicle that goes on sale as it stands.
The car is the first Polestar concept created under head of design Philipp Römers. Dezeen reported that Römers joined Polestar from the carmaker Audi in January 2025. Polestar says the Formula 2030 is meant to set the design direction for its production cars in the coming years.
Römers said the car's proportions "scream performance." It is a low-slung sports car, measuring 1.35 metres tall, 4.68 metres long and 2.02 metres wide. It rides on 22-inch wheels and has a long bonnet, a wraparound windscreen, short overhangs at each end and muscular haunches, the rounded curves over the rear wheels.
The front previews the next Polestar 2, a saloon (called a sedan in the United States) due in 2027. Its "Dual Blade" headlights are the same design cue. At the back, separate "Single Blade" lights mirror the upcoming Polestar 7 crossover SUV, rather than one continuous strip of light. Unlike the Polestar 4 and Polestar 5, the Formula 2030 has a conventional rear windscreen.
The paint is a new colour called Nitrogen, with gold accents. A deep front splitter, the blade-like lip under the nose that guides air around the car, sits beneath a single vertical windscreen wiper.
Inside, a curved screen band sits above the steering wheel, and a second screen is built into the centre console. A sliding "drive mode selector" switches between Performance, Normal and Autonomous modes. Moving it changes the angle of the central screen, the seats and the steering wheel.
The console also carries eight large mechanical controls. These are physical knobs and buttons rather than touch icons, and each can be set to the owner's preferences. That is the feature behind the headline.
Polestar's own news page describes the Formula 2030 as more than a concept car. The company calls it the next chapter of the brand, shown in physical form for the first time. It says its next generation of cars puts the driver at the centre, and it links the car to an ambition to grow into a "car-culture brand 2.0."
For anyone who has ever wanted the radio button somewhere else, the eight controls are the detail to watch. Polestar has not said which parts of the Formula 2030 will reach production.
