Polestar 4: more details on 2023's Swedish Macan rival

Published: 11 October 2021

► Polestar 4 takes aim at Porsche Macan
► One of two new all-electric SUVs
► Priced from £47k, launched in 2023

The Polestar 4, revealed under a dustsheet to investors in this new photograph, will be a more affordable premium electric crossover to target the likes of the Porsche Macan when it launches in 2023. CEO Thomas Ingenlath has confirmed the name, pricing and details to CAR magazine as the company announced its plan to float on the Nasdaq.

Investment specialists The Gores Group and Guggenheim Capital have provided funding to take Polestar public, valuing the business at $20 billion (£15bn). Crucially, the deal will inject the funds to accelerate the expansion of Volvo's EV offshoot, including the Polestar 4 and two other incremental models.

It's the first official confirmation that a second Polestar SUV is in the plan, following on the coat-tails of the US-built Polestar 3 launching in 2022. The official picture below reveals the silhouettes of the 3 (right), 4 (middle) and 5 (left).

Polestar 3, 4 and 5 (right to left)

Revealed: more on the Polestar 3

The CEO on the new Polestar 4

'We have a second SUV in our pipeline,' Ingenlath revealed. 'It will compete below the Polestar 3's €75,000 [£65k] sector, it is slightly smaller. It will not compromise on the interior length, but this car is slightly more ground-hugging, a bit more of the coupe-type roofline.

'The Polestar 4 really brings the greatness of the brand to a segment that will, eventually, start around €55,000 [£47k], where we in some point in time want to reach with the Polestar 4. This is the [price] spectrum we will cover with these two cars.'

Documents shared with investors reveal that the Polestar 4 is forecast to leapfrog the 2 by mid-decade to become the company's bestseller, with 79,000 annual sales projected, a whisker ahead of the liftback saloon.

Globally, the mid-sized premium sport SUV sector is expected to grow by 46% by 2025, making this a ripe hunting ground for Polestar and others.

Polestar 0: the plan to build a fully carbon-neutral car by 2030

Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO

Ingenlath (above) pledged that aerodynamics would play a major part in the brand's SUVs in future, claiming that the days of big, boxy off-roaders were over.

But each car will have 'different shapes and silhouettes, different interiors... and with Polestar drivetrains, which make them very, very powerful.' The company is developing a 450kW e-motor, as well as hands-off autonomous driving skills due within two years.

What else do we know about the Polestar 4?

The smaller, more affordable Polestar SUV will maintain the performance drivetrain now associated with the brand, even though it is based on a different group EV architecture dubbed PMA by Polestar (echoing its genetic roots in Volvo's CMA platform).

The same hardware is called the Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) by parent company Geely, which claims this is the world’s first open-source electric vehicle platform. The Polestar 4 will be built at Geely's Hangzhou Bay factory in China, with production slated to start before the end of 2023.

The boss also confirmed that the third new model would, logically, be the Polestar 5, trailed by the Precept. It means Polestar will launch one new model every year until 2025, by which time sales are projected to rise tenfold from this year's output to 290,000 vehicles a year.

Browse our Polestar reviews

By Tim Pollard

Editorial director of CAR's digital publishing arm. Motoring news magnet

Comments