Lexus Hoverboard – Frame from new film for the Amazing in Motion campaign.
Design. Forty years ago, Back to the Future gave us a glimpse of flying DeLoreans and hoverboards gliding through 2015. The Lexus Overboard prototype turns that cinematic dream into a tangible piece of design history. It’s time to celebrate both the movie’s 40th anniversary and the 10 years since its imagined “future.”
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Luxury automotive brand Lexus unveils full reveal of project ‘SLIDE’ Photo Credit: Olly Burn.
Lexus Overboard is more than a nostalgic nod; it’s a bold design experiment that fuses science fiction with real-world engineering. In 2015, the Japanese luxury brand completed the final reveal of its hoverboard project after extensive tests in Cubelles, near Barcelona. The result? A sleek board that levitates using the magnetic resistance between cryostatic reservoirs and a special track containing permanent magnets.
Developed over 18 months with scientists from IFW Dresden and evico GmbH, specialists in magnetic levitation, the Lexus Overboard merges advanced physics with futuristic aesthetics. Two cryostats—reservoirs keeping superconducting material at -197°C through liquid nitrogen—allow the board to “freeze” the magnetic field beneath it, maintaining its distance from the track. As Dr. Oliver de Haas, evico’s CEO, explains, “The magnetic field from the track is effectively ‘frozen’ into the superconductors in the board, maintaining the distance between the board and the track—essentially keeping the board hovering.”
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Lexus Hoverboard test rider Ross McGouran during filming of ‘SLIDE’, which features the high performance GS F. Photo Credit: Olly Burn.
Professional skateboarder Ross McGouran joined the team for testing. “I’ve spent 20 years skateboarding, but without friction it feels like I’ve had to learn a whole new skill,” he said. The team even built a 200-metre hoverpark in Barcelona, where McGouran could glide across surfaces—and even water—in a way no skateboard ever could.
Testing of the Lexus Hoverboard was carried out in a specially constructed hoverpark in Barcelona. Photo Credit: Olly Burn.
Mark Templin, Executive Vice President at Lexus International, summed it up perfectly: “Embarking on this project, we set out to push the boundaries of technology, design and innovation to make the impossible possible.”
Lexus demonstrates the Hoverboard travelling across water in new film for the Amazing in Motion campaign. Photo Credit: Olly Burn.
Though still a prototype, the Lexus Overboard—part of Lexus’s Amazing in Motion campaign—proves that the future Marty McFly dreamed of might have just arrived, four decades later, and it’s smoother, sleeker, and more design-driven than ever.
Successful testing of the Lexus Hoverboard in Cubelles, Barcelona revealed in new film starring test rider Ross McGouran. Photo Credit: Olly Burn.
Mark Templin, Executive Vice President at Lexus International said: “Embarking on this project, we set out to push the boundaries of technology, design and innovation to make the impossible possible”.
So far the The Lexus Hoverboard remains a prototype. The project is part of the campaign series that showcases creativity and innovation from the Lexus brand.
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