Polestar is set to go back to its performance car roots with sportier new models and the potential for high performance variants of the existing range.
The Volvo spin-off, now in its eighth year as a standalone EV brand under Chinese Geely ownership, has just released the Polestar 3 and 4 in the UK and announced a European-built Polestar 7 compact SUV to rival the new Tesla Model Y.
But speaking to The Independent, Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller revealed plans to make Polestars look sportier, while also hinting at more performance-orientated models.
Lohscheller has been in the job a matter of months and has a clear focus initially on boosting sales, yet his new team has also been briefed to make new models sportier.
Polestar was born out of Polestar Racing, a Swedish company that became the official modifying partner of Volvo Cars. And it’s that history that Lohscheller wants to draw on with new models.
Among his new team is new design director, Philipp Römers, who is just starting work on the recently announced Polestar 7 model. And Lohscheller’s brief is clear: make the new cars sportier.
“I want to highlight the performance element even more because that’s where the Polestar brand is coming from,” said Lohscheller, “And I want to also show it in a bit more confident way.”
Asked whether that meant Polestar could have performance variants of each model – like BMW’s M or Mercedes’ AMG models – Lohscheller replied, “That’s an interesting point we are thinking about.”
Polestar’s next model to arrive will be the Polestar 5, a car that has been developed at the company’s research and development base in the UK. Lohscheller describes the car as “a phenomenal super sports car” and says that it will go on sale later in 2025. “In the second half of this year we will open the order book,” he said. Prices for the 5 are expected to be in excess of £100,000.
The UK team is also set to play a big role in the development of new models and the DNA of Polestar, as Lohscheller explained. “The R and D becomes even more important to differentiate and to make sure that this is really a Polestar.
“I think in some cases the company has done it really well. I was driving in Sweden on a test track the other day, a Polestar 3 – it’s phenomenal. I mean they drive it at 200 kilometers per hour [124mph] and they go into a curve and really this SUV drives like a race car.
“We want to have this performance; we want to have this fun to drive and that needs a lot of R and D adjustments as well. And therefore, I need a world class R and D team. The UK is a very important location for us.”
Lohscheller also revealed that the Polestar 6 open-top sports car, developed alongside the Polestar 5 in the UK, has been pushed back. “The Polestar 6, which is a roadster, we will move backwards because it’s really small volume and while everybody loves it, I also need to make money. Therefore, we decided to have this compact SUV, the Polestar 7, and bring this as much forward as possible.”
Although Lohscheller would not be drawn on an on-sale date for the Polestar 7, we wouldn’t expect to see that car until 2028 at the earliest, with the Polestar 6 sneaking in before the end of the decade.
Lohscheller also revealed that the Polestar 2 hatch will eventually be replaced by another Polestar 2 rather than by the Polestar 7 SUV. “We will continue with a Polestar 2 because, in a way, it’s like that’s what people know most. It stays and at one stage we will then announce when the successor comes.”
Currently, Polestars 2, 3 and 4 all use different architectures, with the Polestar 5 getting a different platform, too. Lohscheller recently announced a new group platform strategy that starts with the Polestar 7. It’s expected that the new platform would then be rolled out to eventual replacements for the 2, 3 and 4, although even the replacement for the Polestar 2 won’t be likely until the end of the decade at the earliest.
Polestar’s naming strategy will also be settled by then with replacement models taking the number of the car they supersede. “We will never get to 10,” confirmed Lohscheller.
