Polestar is expanding its lineup. The Volvo-owned EV brand is perhaps best known for the Polestar 2 sedan, but it also has the Polestar 3 crossover in its lineup. Now, the company is looking to launch something in between the 2 and the 3, at least in terms of price — and it’s confusingly called the Polestar 4.
The Polestar 4 is a luxury crossover that follows Polestar’s much-loved design sensibilities. It features fast performance and a stunningly comfortable interior. Oh, and it won’t have a rear window — it instead offers a digital rearview mirror, or basically, a screen that shows a live feed from a camera.
Curious about whether or not the Polestar 4 could be the right EV for you? Here’s everything we know about the car so far.
Polestar 4 design
To this writer’s eye, the Polestar 4 could end up being one of the best-looking cars on the streets by taking what was already great about Polestar cars and elevating it.
From the front, the car bears some similarities to other Polestar cars but with split front headlights instead of the single, angled headlight found on the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3. The shape of the front of the car actually reminds me a lot of the Kia EV6 with its curved hood, but even sleeker and more stylish.
The rear of the car is stunningly well-designed too. You’ll find a large light bar along the back of the car, which angles down on either side. The car has large-looking wheels, and a large curved-glass roof, though it doesn’t angle down to form a rear window. Instead, there’s no rear window at all, as Polestar is instead using a camera to feed a view to a digital rearview mirror, which is basically just a screen.
Design is largely subjective, but the design of the Polestar 4 is unlikely to be very divisive. The car follows that minimalistic Swedish feel but with a seriously sporty shape.
Polestar 4 interior and tech
That minimalistic feel continues into the car’s interior, but with some neat accents that make it feel sporty from the inside, too. The images that Polestar has been showing off show a stark white or star-black interior with bright yellow seat belts. Seats can be covered in a choice of vinyl, Nappa leather, or a knit textile made of recycled plastic.
Some interior features aren’t all that common for these cars. For example, there are options for electrically reclining second-row seats and an electrochromic roof that can help reduce glare.
Central to the Polestar 4 experience is a large 15.4 infotainment display, where you’ll control almost everything inside the car, including climate. The infotainment system supports CarPlay and Android Auto. There are other displays dotted around the car, too. For example, there’s an optional second-row display to control third-zone climate and entertainment, along with an optional head-up display. The digital rearview mirror and the 10.2-inch digital instrument panel are not optional.
The car could offer some interesting self-driving tech. Polestar has said that it’s partnering with Luminar and Mobileye to allow eyes-off, point-to-point self-driving on the highway and even “eyes-on automated driving” in other situations. In other words, Polestar thinks you’ll be able to do something else entirely while you’re on the highway and keep watch as the car drives itself off the highway. The tech is included in a bundle called Pilot Assist, and it, too, is available as an option, not standard.
Polestar 4 models
You might have noticed a trend by now — much of what makes the Polestar 4 cool is available as an option and not standard. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know exactly which of these options will be bundled together into higher-end trims, or simply available individually. Polestar has said that there will be a single-motor option and a dual-motor option, so these two powertrains will likely dictate the different trim levels.
Polestar 4 performance
Polestar has offered some details around the performance of the Polestar 4. The single-motor variant will supply 272 horsepower to the rear wheels only, while the dual-motor variant steps up to 544 horsepower. Polestar says that the dual-motor variant will be able to reach 60 miles per hour in only 3.8 seconds. That’s impressive, though not quite on the same level as some of the fastest EVs out there, which can reach 60 mph in under 3 seconds.
Polestar 4 charging speed and range
Polestar has released some preliminary testing that gives us a pretty good idea of the car’s range. Like the Polestar 2, there’s only one battery size option on the Polestar, which is 100 kilowatt-hours. That battery is good for around 300 miles of range on the single-motor variant or a slightly lower 270 miles on the faster dual-motor version of the car. This range is fine, but it certainly won’t break any records.
The charging speed on the car maxes out at 200 kilowatts, which isn’t bad, but again, won’t break any records. The fastest-charging cars right now come from the likes of Kia and Hyundai and support charging speeds of up to 350kW. Regardless, the 200kW Polestar 4 will be able to charge from 10% to 80% in 30 minutes. We would have liked to have seen a slightly longer range and a faster charging speed. Yes, we say that a lot, but we know for a fact that it’s possible to have both, so we’re going to keep beating that drum.
Polestar 4 price and release date
The Polestar 4 is being positioned as a luxury crossover, and it’s certainly a little more expensive than mainstream crossovers like the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6, and Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Polestar 4 starts at $60,000 for the base single-motor variant. Some estimates peg the dual-motor variant as costing $80,000, and with all those options, we’re expecting that it’ll be easily possible to configure the car to cost more than $100,000.
Thankfully, the Polestar 4 isn’t all that far off from a full release. Production of the car is set to start this year, and Polestar says that first deliveries will begin in August 2024. In other words, by the end of the year, we should start seeing the Polestar 4 on the roads.
Our Polestar 4 wish list
Because the Polestar 4 is so close to release, there’s not a lot we don’t know about the car. But a lot of the most important ambiguity revolves around price. Hopefully, the dual-motor version of the car won’t end up being that much more expensive than the single-motor variant, and the same goes for all the available options. If I were personally buying a Polestar 4 (I’m not), I’d want an electrochromic roof.
