Polestar has a very good batting average in the styling department. The gorgeous Polestar 1 began life as the Volvo Concept Coupe, and then went on to production as the company’s prestige but limited-production plug-in hybrid coupe. Now it has stepped out from Volvo’s shadow with its own well-proportioned Precept concept sedan—a harbinger of things to come.
The Precept made its North American debut at a New York event Dec. 2. The car is a precursor of Polestar’s future design direction, and will reach production in modified form as the Polestar 5 in 2024.
Polestar is a new global brand launched in an increasingly challenging environment, with both COVID and chip shortages to contend with. The Polestar 1 entered production in 2017, and the mainstream Polestar 2 battery car in 2019. In total, with Polestar on three continents and in 14 markets (with planned expansion to 30 by the end of 2023), sales this year will likely total around 29,000. The company wants to increase that to 65,000 next yearand 290,000 annually by 2025. The Polestar 1, now out of production, was the brand’s only car with a combustion engine—from now on, it’s all battery EVs.
Sales growth like that will depend on the company having a hit with the Polestar 3 all-electric SUV, which will be built at Volvo’s manufacturing site in South Carolina starting next year. The debut of the 3, which Polestar describes as an “aerodynamic performance electric SUV” with some shared Volvo components, is targeted to occur in mid-2022. The Polestar 4, a less-expensive SUV, arrives in 2023.
The Polestar Precept, with its pillarless doors open wide to show off the show interior.
Jim Motavalli photoThe company has a major sustainability focus, and says it will launch a carbon-neutral car (with no emissions during production or in the supply chain) by 2030. The company also uses blockchain technology to track carbon-dioxide emissions and trace the source of the cobalt (which is mainly sourced from the strife-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo) in its batteries.
As it creates an identity separate from Volvo, Polestar is going public in a SPAC deal that will close early next year and implies an enterprise value for the company of $20 billion. Polestar has 25 showrooms in the U.S. now, but will grow that to 38 in 2022 and eventually 50, with access to 800 service centers. Customers in the U.S. will get home delivery, plus pickup and return for servicing. Polestar projects that 40 percent of its sales will be in Europe and the Middle East, 30 percent in Asia, and 30 percent in North America.
The low-slung four-door, four-seater Precept has rear-hinged back doors without a central pillar, but Max Missoni, the head of Polestar design, tells Penta that the feature serves to highlight the interior for show display, and is not likely to make it to production.
The Polestar interior features flax fiber trim, a large central screen, and a floating console. There's room for four.
Jim Motavalli photoStyle details include cameras in place of outside rear-view mirrors, with screens built into the doors; a large vertical center display; and sustainable flax-fiber door panels and trim. “They look like carbon fiber, but have their own unique character,” he says. “We have them backlit for dramatic effect.”We also use 3D knit fabric for the seats, made from recycled bottles.” A 3-D knit fabric for the seats is made of recycled bottles. (A vegan interior was introduced on the Polestar 2.)
According to Missoni, the Precept introduces “our stand-alone design language, and some elements of it will be seen in the Polestar 3.” It all but does away with the front grille, substituting a suite of sensors, and incorporates boomerang-shaped “dual-blade” headlamps. A scoop on the hood improves aerodynamics.
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, saysthe Polestar 5 “will not be that far off” from the Precept concept. He says the Polestar 3 slated for South Carolina will also be built in Chengdu, China, for that domestic market, and for Europe. “We very clearly advocate for free trade,” he says, with the possibility that American-built cars could also be sold into Europe or elsewhere. The chance of Polestar 1 reappearing with an all-battery drivetrain is remote, he says.
Although the brand image is differentiating from Volvo, close cooperation will continue, Ingenlath says. “It is stupid to do it any other way,” he says.
