Lexus makes a hoverboard

Lexus partners with super conductive technology firm to build a hoverboard.

No. No, no, no, no, no. We’ve all watched the movies and seen the far-fetched flights of fancy that Hollywood comes up with, none more outlandish than the hoverboards as featured in Back To The Future Part II (the least impressive film of the trilogy, by the way, but we digress). But we’ve never felt the inclination to go out and make one.

Lexus has, though, because this is “one of the most advanced hoverboards ever developed”. Which comes as news to us. As we didn’t think any hoverboards had been developed, outside of the fevered imagination of Robert Zemeckis.

Apparently, the Japanese car maker has teamed up with world-leading experts in super conductive technology to create the board, which uses magnetic levitation to achieve frictionless movement, incorporating a highly advanced design that features liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets. And if that doesn’t sound like pure sci-fi mumbo-jumbo to you, then you’re probably a big fan of The Big Bang Theory.

What tickles us is that Lexus felt the need to keep the corporate face of its cars for the hoverboard, so if you look carefully you’ll see it is wearing a little ‘Spindle’ grille at the front.

On the vexing question of ‘why?’, Lexus’ executive VP Mark Templin said: “At Lexus, we constantly challenge ourselves and our partners to push the boundaries of what is possible. That determination, combined with our passion and expertise for design and innovation, is what led us to take on the hoverboard project. It’s the perfect example of the amazing things that can be achieved when you combine technology, design and imagination.”

The fourth project from the Lexus ‘Amazing in Motion’ campaign, testing of the Lexus hoverboard will take place in Barcelona in the coming weeks. Presumably with an embarrassing EuroNCAP crash test to follow soon after, possibly involving a truck full of horse manure and Biff Tannen.

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