Last Friday, the first wave of Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise was unveiled to legions of frothing fans who can’t wait to add any and everything Disney churns out to their collections. Running the gamut from smartphone-controlled droids and the inevitable LEGO collections to pint-sized Stormtroopers to decorate your nerd-in-training’s nursery, Star Wars is back with a vengeance.
Even Uber decided to get in on the game, launching a fleet of eight Dodge Chargers dressed up as Stormtroopers to help promote the Hot Wheels line of Star Wars cars. Seriously, they are merchandising the hell out of this movie.
This is at least the second Uber-movie tie-in we’ve seen, as the car-sharing service also provided free rides to PAX Prime attendees a couple of weeks ago in a fleet of Mad Max-inspired apocalyptic vehicles. Like the Mad Max promotion, Uber gave free rides to customers who used a code with the app, in this case “HOTWHEELSFF”, though the free rides only lasted a single day.
As mentioned above, Disney is merchandising the hell out of the new Star Wars movie, including a Hot Wheels car designed to look like the redesigned Stormtrooper helmet as seen in The Force Awakens. So why choose the Charger? Besides having a somewhat sinister legacy as a powerful muscle car, the new Chargers really do look the part when you get right down to it. While using cars to promote movies is nothing new, Uber is really embedding itself into pop culture, and we’re starting to wonder if any of these unique rides will ever go on sale.
Who wouldn’t want to drive to work in a Stormtrooper helmet everyday?