The forthcoming Polestar 7, the brand’s first mass-market model, is set to be a far bigger seller than any of its current line-up but will retain the premium billing and dynamic credentials of those cars.
The Europe-made, Europe-focused crossover is being primed as the catalyst behind a significant growth in sales for the Swedish car maker.
Polestar has not yet said whether it will use its own architecture for the 7 or adapt a platform from the wider Geely group, as it has done with each of its current models. Either way, CEO Michael Lohscheller was keen to emphasise the firm’s commitment to ensuring the new 7 looks, drives and feels like an authentic Polestar.
Asked if he had any concerns about a more mainstream model diluting Polestar’s premium positioning, Lohscheller said: “No, because we’ll make sure we get the Polestar DNA right into it. That’s the key task of our R&D teams: to make sure that Polestar DNA, in terms of chassis tuning, behaviour, look and feel, comes in, and it behaves totally like a Polestar.”
Citing the stark differences between the Polestar 3 and the closely related Volvo EX90 as an example of how two cars that share a platform can still be obviously differentiated models, Lohscheller said: “If you take the Polestar 3 and the EX90, I would argue it’s executed very well. The Volvo is comfort and safety, nice and easy for the commute; the Polestar is a performance car – you feel it in how it drives. The suspension is different, the chassis tuning is different.”
The comparison suggests that while the Polestar 7 might be similar in size and closely related to sibling models from Volvo, Zeekr or Lotus, for example, it will be engineered to have a markedly distinct dynamic character that’s in line with Polestar’s sporting billing.
The 7 will also be distinguished by an evolved design language that Lohscheller says will be rolled out to all Polestar models to make them “more confident” and better show off their performance potential.
“Design is of the highest importance,” he added. “[The 7] needs to have a very compelling design, obviously in the Polestar style. Maybe a bit more confi dence going forward, and the performance element is also super important.”
Lohscheller also said a defining tenet of this new treatment – as being defined by new head of design Philipp Römers – will be making the cars “less minimalistic”. But he stressed that the brand will not seek to completely overhaul its styling cues, so the 7 will be recognisable as a sibling of the 2, 3 and 4.
