You might have seen the rad Polaris Slingshot on the roads locally, but today, we’re getting a chance to see them up close or, realistically, learn about their origins from a brand expert, Josh Hermes, the Vice President of Polaris Slingshot. As you may know, we’re fans of the fun-to-drive Slingshot, and The Manual’s top interviewer, Dan Gaul, sat down with Hermes to learn the ins and outs of the brand, its innovative vehicles, and the future — what may come from Polaris sometime soon. Let’s climb behind the wheel, buckle up, and take a ride.
What is the Polaris Slingshot?
It all starts with a straightforward question. Gaul asks for an introduction to the Polaris Slingshot, and Hermes delivers.
“If you look at Polaris and the history of our company, we’ve got a long track record of bringing innovative products to market to really deliver a great experience for people outdoors. Slingshot is just another example of that. We’ve done a lot of category-defining products, whether it’s a snowmobile, the RZR, and Slingshot falls within that bucket as well,” Hermes says.
The Slingshot is a three-wheeled open-air roadster. Its origins go back to 2010 when it was still just a good idea by a group of passionate engineers. They went on to build a prototype, and four years later, Polaris brought the Slingshot to market. It’s sleek, sporty, and downright badass. Both the driver and passenger get a front-row seat during rides, experiencing every twist and turn with a low center of gravity, open-air cockpit, and incredible maneuvering.
But it all started somewhere, and Hermes walks us through the original process.
“Usually, these things start with how can we solve a challenge or a problem for the customer,” he says. “The idea was: How can we give people this open-air, kind of motorcycle-like riding experience on-road? But do it in a way where you’re sitting in it, and you’re able to sit side-by-side with somebody and share the experience, and it’s a more familiar driving experience. But you still get that open-air kind of more visceral experience on the road like a motorcycle.”
It’s a unique experience, giving people that open-air, more natural feel while still sitting down inside a vehicle like they’re most used to. In other words, it’s like being on a motorcycle without actually being on a
Of course, no prototype comes to fruition without some challenges, and Hermes shares some that the Polaris Slingshot team faced in the early days.
“First, when we brought the product to market in 2014, it launched only available with a manual transmission. Not many people out there today know how to drive a manual transmission. So, that, in and of itself, limited the pool of people that could use the vehicle,” he says. “The other one was that it actually launched as a three-wheel motorcycle. So in most states, you needed a
Solve indeed, because the Polaris Slingshot is all over American roadways these days. Despite how popular they are, no two are alike.
There’s a lot of room to make the Slingshot your own
If you have ever seen a Slingshot on the road, locally or otherwise, you may have observed that they’re all different. The general design is the same, but the likeness tends to stop there.
“We offer a lot of ways for customers to accessorize the vehicle,” Hermes explains. “We’ve got a broad lineup; we’ve got multiple trim levels, from our base model S up to our R and limited editions. Within that, we have a number of different options from audio and our 7-inch display with ride command, different wheels, different seats, different colors, manual, and auto-drive. So there’s all different kinds of combinations, and we try to get a lot of different variety in color as well. Because we know that’s so important to customers.”
The result, Hermes explains, is that you don’t see many identical Slingshot vehicles on the road. There are enough unique combinations that no two vehicles are alike.
“On top of that, we have an accessory portfolio that customers can further add to and make the vehicle their own. Whether it’s a Slingshade, which is a hard top you can put on the vehicle, we have different windscreens, we have different audio, storage, and all kinds of accessories,” he says. “[Even] a fender for the rear wheels. All of those are different ways that customers can personalize, and then, certainly, they do things beyond that as well, as you look at the aftermarket.”
That’s why so many Slingshots you encounter on the road are unique. It’s a testament to the intelligent yet sleek design of the vehicle and the seemingly endless variety of changes and add-ons you can use to give it a one-of-a-kind personality. You’ll not find this in comparable vehicles, either. It’s not like you can easily customize your mid-size sedan or SUV besides what they offer as trimmings from the factory.
Gaul asks, “How many combinations are there?”
Hermes laughs at the question, knowing how much variety is possible. “So many combinations,” he says. “If you look at all the different [options], it’s hundreds. Between the different models, trims, colors, accessory colors, all of that, it’s a large variety of combinations.”
Rapid-fire questions for the VP of a fast and frenetic vehicle
Toward the end of the interview, Gaul throws a bunch of questions at Hermes in the spirit of such a fast and fun vehicle like the Polaris Slingshot.
Gaul: “What’s your favorite motorsport event to attend?”
Hermes: “I’m a power sports guy so anything that Polaris is competing in. Snowcross, desert racing, flat track racing. I love showing up at that stuff.”
Gaul: “If you could drive any car in the world, what would it be?”
Hermes: “James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5.”
Gaul: “What’s your top road trip destination?”
Hermes: “Northern Michigan. Grand Traverse Bay. In the summer. If you’ve never seen it or heard of it, look it up.”
Gaul: “Manual or automatic transmission and why?”
Hermes: “Manual, it’s more fun.”
Gaul: “Who is your favorite all-time racecar driver?”
Hermes: “I’m gonna cheat on this one a little bit. I’m gonna say all of our factory racers here at Polaris. We’ve got a snow factory race team, Indian motorcycle, and RZR, and they do a great job for us. Shout out to them.”
Climb behind the wheel of a Polaris Slingshot today
There are some great questions in there, and we highly recommend watching the full interview. But circling back to Polaris, Gaul gives Hermes a chance for some closing thoughts. Aptly, he makes it known that it’s possible to give the Polaris Slingshot a try without actually owning one — try it before you buy.
“Anybody that wants to try out a Slingshot, they can rent one through more than 130 Polaris adventure outfitters. Go to Polaris.com, and you can look that up.” You can also go there to learn more about the product, the brand, and find a dealer.
