Polestar has revealed more of its forthcoming “electric performance SUV”, called the Polestar 3, ahead of a 2022 market launch.
The Polestar 3 will be a sleeker counterpart to the next-generation Volvo XC90 which shares its ‘SPA2’ platform architecture. For competitors, think Audi e-tron among myriad others.
Not only is the Polestar 3 the Swedish-Chinese company’s first SUV, it’ll also be its first made in the USA. Production kicks off next year in Charleston, South Carolina.
“We will build in America for Americans,” said Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath.
Polestar 3
“Polestar 3 is planned to be launched in 2022 as a premium electric performance SUV that will define the look of SUVs in the electric age. It will also be the first Polestar vehicle to be built in America.”
That said, Australia is considered an important launch market for Polestar and we fully expect this SUV to be produced for this market in right-hand drive. The only question is whether it arrives in 2022 or 2023.
The SUV is intended to be “one of the most climate-responsible cars ever made” and Polestar says it has been designed to “in time offer autonomous highway piloting powered by the best-in-class LiDAR sensor from Luminar and centralised NVIDIA computing power”.
Polestar 5
The premium SUV market is the fastest growing segment in the US automotive industry and is expected to be one of the most rapid to adopt fully electric vehicles.
Beyond the Polestar 2 sedan and Polestar 3 SUV, the company has the 2024 Polestar 5, a premium GT inspired by the 2020 Precept concept.
Polestar is a Sweden-based joint venture company run by Volvo and its Chinese parent Geely Holding, poised for an imminent Nasdaq SPAC IPO set to close by June next year.
In other words it’s very much a product of its time, a tendril of the disruptive electric car revolution – with an approach of radical transparency around its real emissions and supply chain.
The company says it plans to grow tenfold from global sales of around 29,000 in 2021 to 290,000 by 2025. It needs to stoke hype to secure its valuation, but at the same time it has been quite transparent showing us its future vehicles and plans.
“From here on in, Polestar is all about growth,” added Mr Ingenlath, before making a dig at some startup EV brands out there without Polestar’s relationship to established OEMs (Volvo and Geely).
“We are not a virtual company waiting to build factories and sell cars; we are an actual company already building and selling cars around the world. Our two award-winning cars are on the road in 14 markets globally and we expect our global sales volume to reach around 29,000 vehicles this year,” he said.
The company plans to have a presence in 30 countries by the end of 2023.
Polestar 2
MORE: Polestar 2 reservations open in Australia, early demand high
MORE: Polestar launching three new electric cars by 2024
