Polestar Unveils $84,000 Electric SUV, Polestar 3, To Cement American Foothold
Polestar 3
Item: Polestar
The Swedish electric car manufacturer Polestar unveiled a new electric SUV on Wednesday, which it expects to expand its sales and presence in the United States.
The new model, called Polestar 3, is a five-passenger electric car that the company describes as a “performance SUV”[ads1];. It will launch with a 111 kilowatt-hour battery and a dual-motor configuration that delivers up to 517 horsepower with an estimated 300 miles of EPA-rated range.
Priced at around $84,000, the car comes loaded with technology, including a Nvidia computer running advanced driver assistance software developed by Polestar’s part owner, Volvo Cars.
Only one version of the Polestar 3 will be available at launch, but more affordable trims are expected to follow. An optional “Pilot Pack” will add one sparkle lidar unit and other sensors needed for autonomous driving, which Polestar expects to make available in the future via an over-the-air update.
It’s a step up in size, performance, technology and price from the company’s current model, the Polestar 2 crossover, which starts at around $48,000. The Polestar 1 was a limited production hybrid coupé, now discontinued.
It’s also something of a step up in price from what is likely to be its main competitor: Tesla’s Model Y, which costs about $70,000 in similar trim with two engines. Another potential rival, BMW’s all-electric iX SUV, starts at around $85,000.
The Polestar 3 will be built in China from next year, and in the US – at a Volvo Cars factory in South Carolina – starting in mid-2024. Deliveries are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Polestar expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles to customers worldwide in 2022. Through September, it had delivered about 30,400, it said last week.
Polestar is a joint venture between Volvo Cars and the Chinese car manufacturer Geely, which has owned Volvo Cars since 2010. Polestar was listed on the stock exchange via a merger with a special acquisition company in June. Shares have fallen around 58% since.
