- The new Polestar 7 SUV will be launched in late 2026 or early 2027
- It won’t replace the Polestar 2, but it will be an affordable entry to the brand.
- The compact electric SUV will compete with Tesla, Audi and Volvo
Polestar has revealed that it will add a new member to its stable of stylish but understated electric vehicles with the upcoming Polestar 7 SUV, which the company says will come before the much-hyped Polestar 6 sports car.
Although the Swedish manufacturer has long been a single-model brand (offering only the Polestar 2 since 2019, which is also due for an update), it recently launched the larger Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 crossover vehicles, while the upcoming Polestar 5, which will take on the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT, is scheduled to launch later this year.
Newly appointed CEO Michael Lohscheller has been speaking to various media outlets about his plans to take the brand in a new direction, with the Polestar 7 embodying what he sees as the perfect car to enter a hugely popular and contested market. one that many premium manufacturers have traditionally avoided.
Although details of the Polestar 7 are fairly scarce, Lohscheller has promised that it will ride on an entirely new platform (although he won’t say which of the Geely-owned companies will provide it) and will feature “the latest technology,” which can be built as a 800 V architecture and 350 kW fast charging capabilities.
The new CEO also said it would sit between the Volvo EX30 and EX40, which gives a good indication of size, while the price will likely sit between those two models as well, i.e. between £40,000 and £45,000 in the UK United. That will equate to $45,000 to $55,000 for the US market (or around $72,000 to $87,000 Australian).
This is prime territory for the Tesla Model Y, which just received a long-awaited ‘Juniper’ refresh, but CNBC reports that the brand has recently lost $15 billion in value due, in part, to an aging vehicle lineup.
During an interview with Car Magazine, the Polestar CEO revealed that he wants his design team to be “more confident” in the next generation of vehicles. Since the Polestar 5 and Polestar 6 have already passed the concept stage, it is up to the Polestar 7 to incorporate these changes.
“Polestar is sometimes too modest, too humble. In several markets, such as Scandinavia, this works, but I would like to have a little more confidence. “In the United States, Americans don’t like understatement,” he said.
Analysis: Trump’s United States will be a tough nut to crack
Polestar’s boss believes 2025 will be the strongest year in Polestar’s history, but the company faces numerous questions about its ability to enter the US market.
Currently, the Polestar 2 and the recently launched Polestar 3 are available for purchase in the US, with the latter being built at the company’s plant in Georgia. But the outgoing Biden administration has implemented a complete ban on any vehicles featuring connected technology from China.
This will negatively affect the Swedish brand, as it is owned by the Chinese company Geely and borrows much of its technology from the group. But Polestar’s new CEO says he will look for new suppliers to get around the ban, according to The Financial Times.
To complicate matters, Trump’s recent signing of executive orders that could end numerous electric vehicle subsidies will undoubtedly drive up Polestar prices in the US, leaving Tesla dependent on its vast economies of scale of electric vehicles to offer the cheapest product.