Lexus Froze an NX for Five Days and Gave It Literal Ice Wheels

The challenge was this: Build replicas of the Lexus NX’s alloy wheels and Yokohama winter tires out of ice, and actually have the 4,000-pound NX drive on them. Why? Lexus will claim “engineering” and “detailed craftsmanship,” but let’s be real: This is just a silly stunt. And it looks freakin’ awesome.

Lexus claims the project was under construction for three months. In order to make exact copies of the real multi-spoke wheels and tires, Lexus used things like laser-scanning, three-dimensional computer-aided design, and multi-axis machinery. THEN, on top of that, people from the Hamilton Ice Sculptors took tools and made sure everything was up to snuff and perfectly on point. Acrylic inserts were also inserted as backups.

To add to the overall Ice Queen package, the NX itself was parked in a -30 degrees C (-22 degrees F) chamber and left alone for five days. The video you see is the first time the car was started back up, on the ice wheels, and driven around.

[Via Lexus]