Polestar’s First Electric SUV Coming in 2022
Premium electric car company Polestar has released a second teaser image of the forthcoming Polestar 3 electric performance SUV, which will be produced at Volvo’s manufacturing facility in Charleston, South Carolina, beginning in 2022. (Polestar)
December 2, 2021
Polestar will launch a new all-electric performance SUV called the Polestar 3 in 2022. The new electric vehicle (EV) will be the brand’s first SUV and the company’s first EV built in the United States. Polestar hasn’t offered many details about the upcoming 3 but just released a teaser photo of the EV—still wearing camouflage. Polestar says that the 3 will be one of the most “climate-responsible cars ever made” and that it will offer autonomous highway driving.
While we wait for more details about the EV itself, Polestar did say the new model will be the next step in the company’s plan to sell EVs in 30 markets by the end of 2023.
“We are not a virtual company waiting to build factories and sell cars,” said Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath in a statement. “We are an actual company already building and selling cars around the world. Our two award-winning cars are on the road in 14 markets globally, and we expect our global sales volume to reach around 29,000 vehicles this year. … From here on in, Polestar is all about growth.”
Recently, Polestar said it hopes to have sold 290,000 vehicles by the end of 2025, and the 3 will play a significant role in its increased sales. Polestar has identified the premium SUV segment as the fastest-growing segment in the U.S. and believes that those shoppers are more likely than other groups to adopt fully electric vehicles.
Polestar, a standalone Swedish EV company founded in 2017 by Volvo Cars and parent Geely Holding, will build the Polestar 3 at the Volvo Cars plant in South Carolina. That facility opened in 2018 and currently produces gasoline-only and plug-in hybrid versions of the Volvo S60 luxury sedan. The redesigned 2022 XC90 SUV, including the all-electric version, will start production there in 2022, as well as the Polestar 3.
“We will build in America for Americans,” Ingenlath said. “Polestar 3 is planned to be launched in 2022 as a premium electric performance SUV that will define the look of SUVs in the electric age.”
Following the 3 will be two other all-electric models, including the Polestar 4 SUV in 2023 and the Polestar 5 sport sedan in 2024. The 4 will be a smaller electric performance SUV coupe, while the Polestar 5 will be an electric performance 4-door GT that will take styling cues from the Polestar Precept concept car.