Polestar is in dire straits. The model’s sole current mannequin, the Polestar 2, is inbuilt China and is now topic to a 100% tariff, and Polestar is not anticipating to import as many because it did final 12 months. The corporate’s inventory is battered, with a valuation that’s solely one-third as excessive as VinFast’s, and simply handled a current scrape the place it was almost de-listed from the New York Inventory Change. Even Volvo is cashing out of its funding right here. The disaster has prompted the exit of Polestar’s first CEO, changed by a brand new one with earlier stints at Opel, Nikola and VinFast.
The model doesn’t simply want a success. It wants a house run.
After driving Polestar’s first SUV round Jackson Gap, Wyoming, I’m not satisfied it’s a dinger. The Polestar 3 is a stable, useful double. But it surely’ll take greater than this to catapult Polestar to mainstream relevance.
Picture by: InsideEVs
Polestar 3 First Drive: Jackson, Wyoming
(Full Disclosure: Polestar flew me to Jackson Gap, Wyoming—or The Gap, as I name it—to drive the Polestar 3. The corporate put me up in a pleasant lodge and gave me free meals so I’d really feel all good and completely satisfied once I drove it.)
What’s The Deal With The Polestar 3?
My colleague Kevin Williams already drove the Polestar 3 in Spain, earlier this 12 months, and so I’m going to keep away from retreading that floor with a protracted description of what this SUV is. Briefly, it’s a big, electric-only SUV with as much as 315 miles of vary, as much as 517 hp and a 111-kWh battery, 107 kWh of which is usable. It’s based mostly on the identical second-generation Scalable Product Structure (SPA2) that underpins the Volvo EX90, which I additionally just lately examined.
That’s the place the issue for Polestar begins.
Picture by: InsideEVs
Polestar 3 First Drive: Jackson, Wyoming
Polestar sits below the identical company umbrella as Volvo however is pitched because the EV-forward, performance-oriented model. When gross sales of the Polestar 2 started a number of years in the past, this was a significant differentiator from Volvo, which has lengthy performed the hybrid recreation however was nonetheless within the early days of full battery energy.
Now, nevertheless, Volvo has an EV flagship SUV, a compact electrical SUV and a compact electrical coupe-style SUV, with a bevy of further EV merchandise in its pipeline. It gives extra EV fashions than Polestar, and with the Polestar 2 changing into a secret menu merchandise quickly sufficient, I’d anticipate Volvo EV gross sales to far outpace Polestar’s. And Volvo nonetheless gives hybrids, which is extra of a energy than a weak spot in as we speak’s market.
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Polestar 3 First Drive: Jackson, Wyoming
Volvo additionally has title recognition and a longtime vendor community, one thing Polestar doesn’t have the luxurious of proper now. It sells by way of firm shops, a mannequin shoppers have a tendency to love, however one which means Polestar has to get shoppers to shops they’ve by no means seen earlier than to purchase autos from a model they’ve barely heard of. “Each sale for us is a conquest,” a Polestar consultant mentioned. On condition that it’s far costlier to accumulate a buyer than it’s to maintain one, Polestar’s obtained its work minimize out.
All of this was a predictable drawback. What Polestar doubtless didn’t see coming was the 100% tariff on China-built EVs that the Biden administration is now enacting, all however dooming any hopes of high-volume merchandise from China. On condition that Chinese language conglomerate Geely Holding Group owns Polestar and has a deep roster of EV fashions and applied sciences that might be exported below the Polestar model, the tariffs are a devastating blow—arguably extra to this model than another.
Picture by: InsideEVs
Polestar 3 First Drive: Jackson, Wyoming
So Polestar has relocated U.S.-market Polestar 3 manufacturing to South Carolina, although the automobiles we examined had been inbuilt China. The upcoming U.S.-market Polestar 4s will probably be inbuilt South Korea. Manufacturing areas for the Polestar 5 and 6 haven’t been introduced, however I’d think about the corporate is scrambling to seek out or construct a facility outdoors of China to make them.
To justify all that, Polestar must show it could actually make a winner. The model isn’t a giant vendor in China, and it’s nonetheless comparatively unknown right here. An organization could be a small-volume area of interest participant or it could actually construct a bunch of crops all around the globe, however it could actually’t do each. So the Polestar 3 and 4 are what is going to decide the model’s future. They need to promote individuals on Polestar’s relevance as a premium, performance-oriented, can’t-miss model.
Picture by: Polestar
2025 Polestar 3 First Drive
Does The Polestar 3 Pull It Off?
I’m undecided. As a performance-oriented, engaging SUV, it’s an plain win.
The 517-hp Efficiency Pack automobile hits 60 in 4.5 seconds, lots quick for an electrical SUV. It’s faster than a base Porsche Macan Electrical for comparable cash, although it could actually’t hold with the pricier Turbo. It appears higher than the Porsche, too. The design is hanging, blowing even the mechanically associated EX90 out of the water. The PS3 is hanging with out being aggressive, distinctive with out being busy and athletic with out being too pinched to be sensible.
But I’m not satisfied that its athletic aspirations clearly delineate it from a Volvo. Whereas the Macan Electrical feels purposeful from the leap, the Polestar 3 rides, steers and accelerates like a extra typical electrical SUV. Throttle tip-in is light even in its most aggressive mode, making for a easy if reserved driving expertise.
Push it arduous and also you’ll discover that the PS3 handles its 5,600-lb curb weight effectively, with its trick torque-vectoring differential permitting some journalists to efficiently slide it on moist grime roads. I caught to the pavement, although, and given the pissing rain and 40-degree temperature didn’t dip too far into the Pirelli summer season tires’ grip.
Which is to say I drove it like a traditional electrical SUV purchaser. And till you’re on the edge, with ESP in sport mode and your foot flat to the ground, it doesn’t really feel a lot completely different from an EX90. In some ways, that’s a very good factor. It rides nice, even on large wheels. It’s quiet and assured on the street. Steering is exact if not particularly feelsome. But when the objective is to promote this product on its sporty efficiency credentials, I don’t suppose Polestar has gotten there.
Picture by: Polestar
2025 Polestar 3 First Drive
It’s a assured handler a la a BMW X3 and even Volvo XC60, however in an age the place even Kia SUVs supply 600-plus hp, what you get right here isn’t going to get anybody too stirred up. Driving lovers will respect how buttoned-down it feels when pushed, however to most individuals it’ll nonetheless really feel like an electrical Volvo.
That’s the tough bit, although. Electrical Volvos are good. And the PS3 carries over plenty of the great things of the EX90, like its wonderful Android Automotive infotainment system, albeit with a distinct pores and skin.
Picture by: Polestar
2025 Polestar 3 First Drive
From the entrance row, the cabin appears like an EX90’s too, with the identical central show and wheel-mounted driver show, an identical gauge design and an identical deal with lovely, minimalist design with natural-feeling supplies. I particularly love the fabric-esque door playing cards, which make a usually ignored a part of the cabin really feel distinctive and costly.
Picture by: Polestar
2025 Polestar 3 First Drive
I significantly hate the window switches. Just like the EX90—and the Volkswagen ID.4—the PS3 has a single set of window switches on the driving force’s door, with a toggle swap to make them management the rear home windows. It’s a irritating little bit of cost-cutting, which you too can spot in different areas across the inside. The PS3 additionally isn’t probably the most environment friendly automobile in its class—I averaged about 2.4 miles per kWh in primarily 60-70mph nation freeway driving, albeit with occasional bursts of velocity.
Just like the EX90, too, the Polestar 3 is each delayed and unfinished. The SUV was imagined to be on sale by now and, even with an extended improvement cycle, Polestar nonetheless hasn’t dotted all of its I’s and crossed its T’s. In what is maybe probably the most hilarious instance of the trendy “we’ll repair it in publish” ethos that permeates all industries, Polestar says the flexibility to skip tracks or increase the quantity by way of the steering wheel will come by way of an over-the-air replace.
Picture by: Polestar
2025 Polestar 3 First Drive
For now, except you’re adjusting the mirrors or steering wheel, 2 of the buttons on the suitable half of the steering wheel do nothing in any respect.
Autos on the drive program additionally skilled quite a lot of worrying bugs. Our tire strain monitoring system gentle was flashing, with the system reporting a fault and unable to point out any pressures. The hand detection on the steering wheel for Pilot Help features was a typical drawback level, too.
In a single journalist’s automobile, an error message learn “Driver Assist System Fault. Guide A Service.” In one other instance, the infotainment system totally crashed, and mentioned it could restart itself when the automobile was parked. It didn’t, in order that they rebooted it utilizing a tough reset, after which the car’s LTE connection by no means returned.
The Verdict
These sorts of teething points are powerful to forgive in a automobile like a Volvo EX90. For a brand new model, although, they are often deadly.
Many individuals haven’t any expertise with Polestar, and if the brand new, highest-volume product isn’t totally baked but, it’s going to show lots of people away. Absent these flaws the Polestar 3 will probably be a stable contender, however I’d be doing my readers a disservice if I reviewed a automobile on what it might be when it’s fastened, not what it’s now.
Picture by: InsideEVs
Polestar 3 First Drive: Jackson, Wyoming
Even with out the bugs, although, I’m undecided that is destined to be a blockbuster. The second automobile I drove—a Launch Version with the Pilot & Plus packages—stickered in at $88,100. In order for you the Efficiency Pack it’d be one other $6,000. For that cash, you possibly can have your decide of the Rivian R1S Twin Massive, Audi Q6 E-Tron or a base Porsche Macan Electrical. (Or perhaps a Tesla Mannequin X, in the event you’ve by some means been ready all this time to get into a kind of.)
However you too can get a less-optioned, cheaper Polestar 3 within the $75,000 vary. And it nonetheless does make a case for itself: It appears nice, has a beautiful inside, drives effectively and gives respectable vary. However the automotive enterprise isn’t truthful. For an upstart, being aggressive isn’t sufficient. To courtroom patrons who don’t know your model, that you must supply them one thing higher than what they will get wherever else. Even with their very own challenges, we’ve seen shades of that from upstarts like Rivian and Lucid; the sting Polestar gives is way much less clear.
Picture by: Polestar
2025 Polestar 3 First Drive
It’s a comparatively typical luxurious electrical SUV, with an above-average variety of software program points at launch. If and when Polestar fixes it, the three will probably be an actual, stable choice. So was the Polestar 2.
But it surely’s neither revolutionary nor polished sufficient to vary Polestar’s recreation. The two and three have gotten the model to second base. But when Polestar goes to be a winner, the model higher hope the 4 is an actual slugger.
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Contact the writer: mack.hogan@insideevs.com
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