Polestar 4
The upcoming Polestar 4, pure electric SUV coupé, and there’s no rear window. But that’s just the start of the lateral thinking and innovative engineering that’s gone into the development of this car.
It’s not only the fastest production Polestar so far, within the next couple of years, it’ll be the first to feature mobilized chauffeur system.
Pricing
With production starting mid-year, indicative local pricing has been set at around $81,000 for the single motor rear wheel drive version and just over 93K for the powerhouse all-wheel drive dual motor.
Platform
This five-seater sits on parent company Geely’s sustainable experience architecture, and we’re told it’s different from the ground up relative to its numerical predecessor, the Polestar Polestar 3 SUV.
Reflecting the Swedish brand’s performance heritage, the Polestar 4 dual motor is claimed to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds, outgunning even the Polestar 1 GT mega coupé.
Engine & Performance
Packing a 400 V, 100 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery, the Polestar 4 has a claimed range of up to 610 kilometers for the single motor and 580 km/h for the dual motor, with up to 200 kilowatts DC and 22 kilowatt AC charging capacity on board.
But that’s all under this slick, aerodynamically efficient body that boasts a drag coefficient of just 0.26.
Design
Although Polestar says despite the frame wireless doors with retractable handles, low nose, and slick roofline, it allowed occasional deviation to ensure the car had an interesting and arresting design.
Practicality
At close to 4.9 meters end-to-end, it’s a substantial machine in, but it stands just over 1.5 meters tall, which is where the tricky no-rear-window packaging comes into play.
The rear header rail, usually above the second row passenger’s heads, has been moved back, which would normally compromise the rear window and push overall height up.
But the decision to do away with the rear glass, combined with a three-metre wheelbase, means there’s generous interior space, including good rear headroom despite the low-level turret.
Polestar says it was shooting for a cocoon-like business class interior environment with the design inspired by sports fashion.
It feels pretty good in here, especially with this enormous multimedia screen in the center and another nifty display in front of the driver, not to mention a properly full-length glass roof overhead.
Sustainability
Interestingly, in line with a focus on use of ethically sourced, environmentally friendly materials in the car’s construction, leather is an available seat trim option.
Polestar, arguing genuine hide, is a food industry waste product, and using it on a fully traceable basis for autoapolstry is better than sending it to landfill.
That said, microtec synthetic leather manufactured using pine oil rather than crude oil is also on offer.
It’d put your hand up if you knew there was a textile university in Sweden. But the 3D knitted textile called Tailored Knit, made from 100% recycled PET bottles and used in the Polestar 4, was developed with its help.
Digital rearview mirror
As for the Polestar 4’s signature rear view mirror party trick, Polestar says this type of technology is now mature enough to be practical and reliable.
The high definition roof mounted camera sending its feed to a conventional mirror layout with the aim of providing high dynamic range and excellent night time visibility