DISCOVER AUTHENTIC LUXURY

Immerse the senses and the soul in journeys of art, culture, flavour and wellbeing in leading destinations across Europe and beyond.

One of several smart plays that electric-car brand Polestar has made in its short lifespan is the way it has blurred the line between car brand and tech start-up. With a self-styled disruptor mindset and almost fetishistic focus on design, it chose to do away with old-school showrooms and opened up city-centre stores with white walls and smiling staff in black tees – influenced, perhaps, by a certain Cupertino-based technology company, and why not?

Offering cars with minimalist interiors, sharp detailing and a monochrome aesthetic, even their names – Polestar 1 and Polestar 2 – are a refreshing reset from the rest of the industry, where baffling number combinations and made-up words that sound like discontinued aftershave lines remain the norm. In short, these guys saw a niche for early adopters in the burgeoning EV market and pounced.

What about the actual cars? Well, the new Polestar 3 is arriving not just as its first genuine SUV, but as the first ‘pure’ Polestar model so far.

As a sister brand of Volvo in the Geely group, Polestar’s first two models had their roots in existing Volvo concept models. Designed and developed from the ground up as a Polestar, the 3 is, then, the car both its team and its followers have been waiting for.

It certainly looks the part. It’s not an easy thing to make an SUV look pretty, but with its tactile sci-fi styling that somehow brings to mind a modern update on a stormtrooper’s suit in automotive form, the 3 continues where the 2 left off. It’s proof that good design can catch the eye without you necessarily knowing why, and new owners will need to get used to the particular attention Polestars seem to attract, partly of the “What is that?” variety.

For a big car, it manages to carry a sporty presence, its front air vents and rear spoiler a visual nod to the extensive efforts that have been made to make this car as dynamic to drive as possible. With torque vectoring, active air suspension and adaptive dampers it is able to adjust between comfort and dynamic modes every two milliseconds. The standard model produces a hefty 483hp and takes 4.9 seconds to hit 60mph from a standing start. The Performance pack boosts this power to 510hp (and 4.6 seconds). Sterile and characterless electric transportation this most certainly is not.

Polestar has upped the comfort levels and luxury detailing inside the 3, with soft-closing doors, intricate bucket seats and a slick 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system as standard. Minimalism is still the watchword, though. The huge infotainment screen is the sole cabin feature, with a single volume knob below. A host of smart safety and driver-assist features are also included via its Pilot pack.

It will be interesting to watch the Polestar story continue to unfold, with models 4, 5 and 6 in the pipeline. Its way of trying to stand out from the crowd has been to take a step back. Its 2022 Super Bowl advert in the US promised ‘No epic voiceovers’. The message: we’ll let the cars do the talking. And talk they continue to do.

In a way, Polestar feels a bit like an exclusive club. Joining this club comes with a lofty price tag – the Polestar 3 starts at almost £80k. But it’s a club to be a member of, nonetheless. (polestar.com )