Can the Polestar 4 Save Polestar?

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There is no denying that Polestar is having some difficulty selling its electric cars globally. When the Polestar 2 first came out, they sold well and built a loyal following in Australia. However, as competition increased, they have lost market share and relevance.

We visited the Brisbane showroom to meet and spend some time with the Polestar 4, and to find out how things were changing with the new models.

Drive.com predicts that the Polestar 2 will continue to find sales difficult well into 2025. The best result was 2,463 units of the Polestar 2 being sold in 2023. In some months in 2022, it even sold more than Tesla. Back in those days, though, all EVs were selling in low numbers.

Let’s turn our focus back to the Polestar 4. We had time to sit in and explore the car before we were approached by the sales rep and were able to quiz him about customer interest and specs. We had driven the Polestar 2 when it first came out — and you can read an owner’s review here. Our test-driving experience was not as good. There were roadworks around the showroom and we could not exceed 40 km/h. The salespeople knew very little about the car. The tech was not up to standard. My, how things have changed with the Polestar 4! Let’s hope it can help turn Polestar’s fortune’s around.

We were told that the Polestar 4 (PS 4 for short — not to be confused with the PlayStation 4) was comparable to the Tesla Model Y and the BMW iX. We got a good look at the Polestar 4 Long Range. With a range of 600 km and 0–100 km/h in 7.1 seconds, it sells for about AU$84,000 (US$52,000). As a comparison, the Polestar 4 Performance (dual motor) has a range of 550 km and will reach 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. It retails for AU$94,000 (US$58,500). The Polestar 4 Long Range has a steel roof, while the dual motor has a glass roof. At a touch of a button on the screen, the glass roof frosts over and cuts glare. This electrochromatic roof is optional on the dual motor version for a cost of $2,700.

The car is equipped with a 100 kWh, 400V lithium-ion battery with nickel manganese cobalt (NMC). Each car is supplied with a “granny charger” for plug and play. 

The sales rep says that the Polestar 4 has been well tuned for the Australian driving environment. “You can feel the grip.” The sales rep reports that many people visit the BMW dealership over the road (as we did) and then drop into Polestar to compare. He says that the Polestar 4 is selling well and he hears comments like “special, exclusive, Swedish flair.”

In 2024, Polestar sold a total of 1,460 Polestar 2; 71 Polestar 3, and 183 Polestar 4. We need to bear in mind that the Polestar 4 has only been on the Australian market for 3 months. “A plethora of cars” have been traded in on the Polestar. “One customer recently traded in a Tesla Model Y Performance for a Polestar 4 dual motor,” he said.

Majella was taken with the design and luxury features of the car. She especially liked the way the car moved the steering wheel and seat as the driver entered and exited. The Polestar 4 comes with Android Auto and over-the-air software updates. But here is a disappointment: it doesn’t come in red! Polestar requires that the car be serviced every 2 years, or 30,000 km. Five years free servicing is included in the purchase price.

Polestar is owned by Geely and counts Volvo Cars as a sister company (they are now colocated). Geely gives the Swedish brands space to create their own products. Geely will launch its own branded cars in Australia this year — it will be interesting to see how competition unfolds.

About half of Polestar’s customers come with their research done. Others need to have a lot of questions answered. This is a sign that Polestar is appealing to an audience beyond the technologically aware “early adopters.” Now … to move them from curiosity to the experience of ownership.

This video review from Jack Scarlet of Fully Charged might help. It is full of technical detail and amusing stories. The main message I came away with was low carbon footprint — lower than that of a Kia Picanto. Thus destroying the myth that EVs are not good for the planet (at around 12 minutes in).

Jack does express some concern about intrusive safety features being a bit over the top — especially when the car thought he was yawning as he opened his mouth to speak on the phone to his mum. Apparently, the car started beeping and put on the hazard lights. Then came the massage. “Non-consensual massages don’t improve a car or make it safer,” he quipped (see at 6:40 minutes in the video).

Our sales rep had been working for Polestar for three years and told us he had received lots of training. He enthuses: “Polestar cars still have a soul. They are silent, but very loud. They drive so well; it always puts a smile on my face.” He described the Polestar as having a fun personality. He encouraged people to do the research on EVs and stop believing all the misinformation.

Majella agreed — “I love that car! It has a screen to the side and one behind the wheel with larger numbers. The air conditioning controls and settings were similar to the Tesla. I found it more comfortable than the BMW we had seen earlier. The ‘easy vehicle entry and exit’ feature with the steering wheel in and the driver’s seat back was very helpful for an older back. Once you close the door, they come back together.” She found the “easy entrance” better than Tesla’s. “It’s great to have no rear window, using the camera instead. It’s much easier to see everything — you don’t have to worry about cleaning the back window.”