Polestar is tackling the big dogs, with its new electric SUV arriving next year in two well-specified variants with pricing close to that of the BMW iX.
The 2024 Polestar 3 is set to arrive in the first quarter of 2024, priced from $132,900 before on-road costs in Long range Dual motor guise.
Initially, it will come standard with both the Plus Pack and Pilot Pack. Whether that means a lower base price is coming beyond 2024 is unclear.
The Performance Pack remains optional, bringing the price to $141,900 before on-road costs.
As standard, the Polestar 3 has five radar modules, five external cameras, and 12 external ultrasonic sensors.
An optional Pilot Pack with LiDAR is available to order, with vehicles so equipped expected to arrive from the third quarter of 2024.
This pack includes an additional NVIDIA control unit, plus three cameras, four ultrasonic sensors, and cleaning for the front- and rear-view cameras. As the name suggests, the pack includes LiDAR technology, which enables 3D scanning of the car’s surroundings and “helps prepare the car for autonomous driving”.
The Polestar 3 is also equipped for bidirectional charging, which the company says enables future potential for vehicle-to-grid and plug-and-charge capabilities.
It comes standard with a one-pedal drive mode, plus torque vectoring on the rear axle. The rear electric motor can also be decoupled to allow the car to run only on the front motor, saving energy.
The Polestar 3 uses a NVIDIA Drive core computer to power its driver assist and monitoring features. There are two closed-loop driver monitoring cameras inside that track eye movements, warning drivers when they become drowsy; an emergency stop function can also activate if warning messages fail to rouse the driver.
Four interior radar sensors, capable of detecting sub-millimetre movements in the cabin, can also warn you if you’ve left a child or pet in the car. It’s also linked to the climate control system to help avoid heat stroke or hypothermia.
Polestar is expanding the use of Blockchain technology – previously used on the Polestar 2 – to trace the cobalt, lithium, mica, nickel and leather used in the Polestar 3.
The company is also offering a range of sustainable materials for the cabin.
You can choose between animal welfare secured Nappa leather or wool, or bio-attributed MicroTech vinyl.
The standard vinyl is made from renewable vinyl and recycled polyester textile. Instead of using crude oil in its production like typical polyvinyl chloride, it uses pine oil from certified renewable sources.
The wool features 20 per cent recycled content and comes from farms “with a responsible approach to managing their lands and animals”, while the leather comes from the well-known Bridge of Weir and is said to be 100 per cent traceable and chrome-free.
Again, the hides are sourced from “responsible suppliers” in the UK and Ireland, two of the highest-rated territories globally in the Animal Protection index.
Pricing
- 2024 Polestar 3 Long range Dual motor: $132,900
- 2024 Polestar 3 Long range Dual motor Performance Pack: $141,900
All prices exclude on-road costs.
Drivetrains
The 2024 Polestar 3 has a rear-biased all-wheel drive system with dual electric motors, producing total system outputs of 360kW of power and 840Nm of torque. The 0-100km/h time is a claimed 5.0 seconds.
The optional Performance Pack bumps these outputs to 380kW and 910Nm, reducing the 0-100km/h time to 4.7 seconds.
Efficiency
The Polestar 3 uses a liquid-cooled 111kWh lithium-ion battery (107kWh useable) with nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry.
The company touts a preliminary WLTP range figure of 610km, or up to 560km with the Performance Pack.
Energy consumption is 20.1-21.1kWh/100km in standard guise and 21.9-23.1kWh/100km with the Performance Pack.
AC charging capacity is up to 11kW and DC charging capacity is up to 250kW, the latter allowing a charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.
Dimensions
The 2024 Polestar 3 measures 4900mm long, 1627mm tall and 2120mm wide (including the mirrors) and rides a 2985mm wheelbase.
Ground clearance is 211mm and braked towing capacity is 2200kg.
Kerb weight is between 2584kg and 2670kg.
There’s 484L of luggage space in the rear, including 90L under the floor, expanding to 1411L with the rear seats folded. There’s also a 32L front storage compartment. Under the boot floor is a tyre repair kit.
Servicing and Warranty
The 2024 Polestar 3 is backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with a separate battery warranty of eight years or 160,000km with a 70 per cent state of health.
Included are five years of roadside assist and five years or 100,000km of servicing.
Safety
The Polestar 3 has yet to be assessed by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.
Standard safety equipment includes:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Steering support
- Vehicle, cyclist and pedestrian detection
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Front and rear cross-traffic assist
- Run-off Road Mitigation
- Oncoming Lane Mitigation
- Lane-keep assist
- Multi-collision brake
- Traffic sign recognition
- Driver attention monitoring
- Interior radar
- Reversing camera
- Surround-view camera
- Front and rear parking sensors
- Front, front-side and curtain airbags
- Driver’s knee airbag
Standard Equipment
The Polestar 3 comes standard with the following equipment:
- Heat pump
- Adaptive dual-chamber air suspension
- 21-inch alloy wheels in either Michelin Pilot Sport 4 EV or Continental SportContact 7 tyres
- Brembo four-piston front brakes
- Tyre pressure monitoring
- Adjustable one-pedal drive mode
- LED headlights with active high-beam
- 14.5-inch Android Automotive touchscreen infotainment system
- Google built-in
- DAB+ digital radio
- Lifetime over-the-air software updates
- Polestar Connect
- NFC key card
- Ultra-wide band remote frequency key
- Three years of Polestar connectivity
- 9.0-inch digital instrument cluster
- 15W wireless phone charger
- 4 x USB-C outlets
- Panoramic glass roof
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Hands-free, soft-close power tailgate
- Power-adjustable front seats with driver memory
- Heated front seats
- Tri-zone climate control
Wireless Apple CarPlay will be available via an over-the-air update in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The Plus Pack, standard at launch, includes:
- 25-speaker 1610W Bowers & Wilkins sound system with Dolby Atmos
- Soft-close doors
- Power-adjustable steering column with profile memory
- Air quality sensor and filter
- MicroTech or wool upholstery
- Repurposed aluminium trim
- Heated wiper blades
- Heated rear seats
- Heated steering wheel
- Infra-red windscreen
- Rear cargo floor “lid in lid” with bag holder
- 21-inch black diamond-cut wheels
The Pilot Pack, also standard at launch, includes:
- Head-up display
- Pilot Assist
- Park Assist Pilot
The Pilot Pack with LIDAR ($6000) adds:
- Long-range LiDAR
- Additional Nvidia Drive computer
- Three additional exterior cameras, four additional ultrasonic sensors
- Front and rear camera cleaning system
The Performance Pack ($9000) adds:
- Performance software upgrade
- Range optimisation drive mode
- Polestar Engineered chassis tuning
- 22-inch black polished forged alloy wheels
- Pirelli P-Zero tyres
- Swedish Gold valve caps, seat belts
- Laser-etched gold interior light line
Standalone options include:
- 1.3-megapixel HD LED headlights ($3000)
- 22-inch black polished forged alloy wheels ($3000)
- Nappa leather upholstery with ventilated, massaging front seats ($7500)
- Power-folding tow bar ($2900)
Colours
Magnesium is standard, with the following finishes a $2000 option:
- Snow (white)
- Thunder (grey)
- Jupiter (bronze)
- Midnight (blue)
- Space (black)
MORE: Everything Polestar 3
