Finally a face of your own
Polestar’s efforts not to be seen as a direct derivative of Volvo have so far been quite fruitless. With the arrival of the Polestar 5, the Swedes are moving away from the sister brand, because this new model has much more of its own face than the ‘1’ and ‘2’.
‘No, really, it really isn’t a Volvo!’ At Polestar, words to that effect have been used many times in recent years, but probably just as often without significant effect. That is not surprising, because the Polestars that we know so far, look like two drops of water on the outside and under the skin on the models that sister brand Volvo carries. The Polestar 1 was in fact a coupé based on the Volvo S60, while the Polestar 2 started life as a Volvo concept car. It shows, because with its ‘Thorhamer’ headlights, clean lines and large grille, the design is really ‘Volvo’, albeit with a more modern and high-tech sauce. We have known for some time now that the distinction with future models will be much greater. In 2020 Polestar presented the Precept, a concept car that showed a new design direction. The clean and tidy that we Europeans find so beautiful could remain, but will be combined with sharper folds and a completely unique layout of the rear and nose. The Precept will go into production as Polestar 5 with minimal changes.
Although the images on these pages are not official yet, you can rest assured that the new Polestar will look like this soon. The car has already been featured on patent sketches, so that our in-house artist only had to translate the details already shown into a more realistic image. In those images we see an elongated, low car, which undoubtedly has excellent aerodynamics. With this, the ‘5’ joins a growing row of such ‘streamline EVs’, which we find at Mercedes under the names EQE and EQS and a segment lower also as Hyundai Ioniq 6. Tesla’s also fall with a little good will in this segment. category, just like the BMW i4.
Two electric motors
Polestar, however, seems to be targeting the Porsche Taycan and Audi RS e-tron GT, at least in terms of power. In its most powerful form, the EV of Swedish-Chinese origin delivers 884 hp and 900 Nm, even more than a Taycan Turbo S. Much more than those figures and the fact that there are two electric motors on board, we do not yet know about the technology. . It is clear that the Polestar 5 is on its own platform, intended purely for EVs. That’s a big difference with the Polestar 2, which shares its technical basis with the Volvo XC40, also available with combustion engines. The aerodynamics, the new base and the high positioning also suggest that Polestar will significantly push its own limits in the field of range, due to a larger power supply and hopefully also a somewhat lower consumption.
Polestar 5 – Illustration: Larson
An interesting question with this kind of coupé-like models is whether it is a four- or a five-door. At Polestar, they apparently could not choose, because the 5 is neatly in the middle between these two options. This is possible, because the car does not actually have a rear window. The panoramic roof does run unusually far down, so there is a chance that there is still something to see in a possible interior mirror. Right after that roof, about halfway where the window would normally be, the tailgate starts. It is therefore clearly higher than with a real sedan, but less high than with a full-fledged liftback. A camera provides the view to the rear, on the dividing line between glass and carriage. The back is mostly closed. It is interrupted by a rear light combination in the shape of an inverted U, which makes it a bit reminiscent of the Volkswagen XL-1. By the way, that economy miracle didn’t even have a rear window, which only makes the resemblance even greater. The side mirrors are still real mirrors, at least in some versions. It cannot be ruled out that camera mirrors will soon be available at an additional cost. The handles are neatly recessed and the side windows are of the styleless type, for a sporty and sleek look.
Only on the road in 2024
Striking is the black element at sill height, which must undoubtedly indicate the presence of a large battery pack. At the front, the two-layer headlights catch the eye. With their L-shape, the parts appear to be mirror images of each other, which fits nicely with the Polestar logo. The Polestar 2’s large, black grille has been banned for good. The nose is smooth, tight and largely closed, as befits an EV. The hefty front cover will hopefully provide access to extra luggage space.
Although the Polestar 5 already looks very ‘finished’ and in slightly camouflaged form it even came into action during the Goodwood Festival of Speed, according to the official version we will have to wait until 2024 for the final production model to appear on the scene. First the Polestar 4 has yet to appear, an SUV that is more conservative in shape, but also shares a lot of design elements with the future flagship.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl