Polestar has announced that it will launch its seventh model, the sixth car in its current lineup. The new Polestar 7 will be a medium-sized SUV that will sit between the current Polestar 4 and Polestar 3 in the range and will be a rival to Porsche’s Macan Electric. It’s due to go on sale in 2027.
Built in Europe
Significantly, the 7 will be Polestar’s first car built in Europe. So far, the Polestar 2 has been built in China, while the Polestar 4 is built in China and Korea. The larger Polestar 3 SUV is built in the US, while the incoming new Polestar 5 saloon will be made in China.
The 7’s European manufacturing base will allow Polestar to side-step the EU’s swinging tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars. No announcement has yet been made as to where the car will be built, but it seems likely that one of Volvo’s plants in Sweden and The Netherlands would be a likely location.
The 7 will, to some extent, replace the ageing (but still impressive) Polestar 2 fastback saloon. It will most likely be built using the company’s SEA platform, which is shared with Volvo and flexible enough to be used for small and medium-sized cars such as the 7 and big stuff like the Polestar 3 and the Volvo EX90.
’Design and performance’
Philipp Römers, Polestar’s Head of Design, said: “Polestar is known for its progressive design, with each car standing out and creating its own buzz – so too will Polestar 7. It is incredibly exciting to bring Polestar’s design ethos to a new segment. Polestar 7 will be everything our customers expect from us, both in terms of design and performance.”
Before the 7 arrives, Polestar will introduce the long-awaited Polestar 5, a low-slung four-door sporting saloon which will rival the likes of the BMW i5 and i7. It will have seriously high performance with more than 870hp and a range likely to touch the edges of 700km on one charge (it’s possible that those figures might apply to separate models in the 5 lineup). The 5 will also spin off into the Polestar 6, a dramatic 2+2 convertible electric sports car, which will get a limited production run.
Better financial outlook
As well as announcing the new 7, Polestar was also announcing an improved financial outlook. The brand had struggled for sales and market share in recent years, operating with just one model — the Polestar 2 — and had suffered numerous financial setbacks. However, the addition of the 3 and 4 to the lineup seems to have bolstered Polestar’s efforts, and recently installed CEO Michael Lohscheller (formerly of Opel) has pronounced that Polestar should be turning an operating profit this year, with a potential 30-35 per cent increase in sales between now and the end of 2027.
“We expect 2025 to be the strongest year in Polestar’s history,” said Lohscheller. “With Scandinavian design, performance and a premium brand, Polestar has successfully positioned itself in the global automotive market. We have three outstanding cars on the road and a growing, passionate customer base. We are building on the strong Polestar brand with design and performance at its core. But significant changes are needed to make this well-respected progressive brand a successful and viable business. We are speeding up our retail expansion and commercial transformation whilst adjusting our future model line-up and significantly reducing our cost base. Both in terms of volumes and financials, we expect 2025 to be the strongest year in Polestar’s history.”
Polestar is also altering the way it sells cars. So far, the brand has stuck to a Tesla-style direct-sales model, cutting out independent importers or franchised dealers. However, from now on, Polestar is set to adopt more of a hybrid model, with direct sales available through the brand’s website, but the company will also develop ‘retail partnerships’ in an effort to almost double the number of ‘retail spaces’ in Europe and the US.
As a way of further bolstering its finances, Polestar is also going to start selling CO2 credits to other car makers which are struggling to meet their average CO2 emissions targets. “With traditional OEMs struggling to transition to EVs, the demand for these credits is expected to increase in the coming years, to a three-digit million-dollar amount per year, from 2025. Polestar has already created an EU CO2 pool with four OEMs for 2025,” said a Polestar spokesperson.
Added to all that, Polestar is also going to branch out into the home energy market, selling customers combined packages for a home charging point and electricity supply, with a boast that switching to Polestar Energy could knock as much as 30 per cent off your home charging costs. The scheme will initially launch in ‘several key markets in Europe’, with more countries to follow by the end of the year.