Polestar made its first Super Bowl appearance at last night’s game with a very blunt ad called “No Compromises.” This 30-second spot fires off lots of fighting words against some of the Swedish brand’s competitors. Statements like “No epic voice-overs,” “No Dieselgate,” “No dirty secrets,” and “No hidden agenda” show how focused the company is on electrification on sustainability. These are shots aimed at the Volkswagen Group for their diesel emissions scandal, which was what made it go all-in on electrification.
The commercial continues with more statements like “No empty promises,” “No shortcuts,” “No conquering Mars,” “No greenwashing,” and “No nonsense.” The second salvo of phrases was aimed squarely at Tesla. What are they referring to you might ask? To put it simply, Tesla’s fit and finish aren’t exactly luxury car levels; the money they charge for their vehicles doesn’t get reflected on the build quality. Additionally, every Tesla vehicle launch has been delayed, the latest of which are the Cybertruck, Roadster, and Semi. As for the Mars reference, that’s calling out Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lack of focus on sustainability.
The spot ends stating “No compromises” before panning out to reveal the Polestar 2, the brand’s first battery-electric vehicle. Although Polestar had a plug-in hybrid in its lineup in the form of the limited-production Polestar 1 grand touring coupe, its future vehicles will be strictly EVs. Following the Polestar 2 will be the Polestar 3, the Swedish brand’s first crossover. In terms of size, that will be similar to the Porsche Cayenne and will be built in two facilities, initially in China at a Geely-owned, Volvo-operated facility in Chengdu. The Polestar 3 will also be the first U.S.-built Polestar model because it will also be built at Volvo’s Charleston, South Carolina plant. It will be underpinned by the second-generation SPA architecture developed specifically for EVs. The Polestar 3 will share its underpinnings with the successors to the Volvo XC90 and XC60. However, it will be tuned more for performance.
Following the Polestar 3 will be the Polestar 4 in 2023, a compact crossover whose chief competitor is the upcoming Porsche Macan EV. It will be built in a Geely-owned facility in Hangzhou Bay, China, and is expected to become Polestar’s volume model followed by the Polestar 2. The Polestar 4 will be lower and feature a coupe-like roofline, and be underpinned by the PMA platform. These underpinnings will likely be shared with the next-generation Volvo XC40 and C40, and a smaller crossover slotting below the 40-series models.
The final Polestar model, which will debut in 2024 is the Polestar 5, the production version of the Precept show car. This grand touring sedan was previewed recently in a video and essentially made the journey from concept to production nearly unchanged. It will use a Polestar-exclusive version of the SPA2 platform that makes extensive use of aluminum to cut weight. The Polestar 5 will likely get the most powerful versions of Polestar’s new compact electric motors, which will also remain exclusive to the brand. Like in the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT, the rear motor uses a two-speed gearbox with a disconnect feature to improve efficiency. That means in dual-motor configuration, a Polestar 5 could have nearly 900 hp.
For those that don’t know, Polestar is a sub brand of Volvo Car Group. It began as a tuner and racing partner of Volvo in the World Touring Car Championship in 1996, entering vehicles like the 850, S60, and C30. Polestar created project cars like the S60 Polestar Concept with 508 hp and the C30 Polestar with 450 hp. Six units of the former were eventually made for a cool $300,000. Volvo eventually bought Polestar and brought it in-house as its performance arm in 2015 where it developed factory-backed tuning software. Polestar became a stand-alone brand in 2017 and launched with 619-hp Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid grand touring coupe that was limited to 1,500 units and was in production from 2019 to 2021.
