Snapshot
- Sales boosted by recent EV demand
- Bulk order means not affected by supply issues
- Polestar 3 expected early 2023
Booming electric vehicle demand is bolstering sales of the newly-released Polestar 2 in Australia, with the Volvo-offshoot shifting more than 50 cars since deliveries began last month.
The electric sedan went on sale here in February, with cars reaching driveways by late March.
According to the Swedish brand, by ordering hundreds of preconfigured cars in advance, it has managed to avoid falling victim to supply constraints and delays – though customers ordering now can still expect a wait time of around four to five months.
At present the brand says it has 149 vehicles in the country, with a further 249 expected in the next few weeks.
“We’ve brought in stock in advance and pre-configured cars rather than be stuck not being able to get them due to shortages,” Head of Polestar Australia Samantha Johnson told Wheels this week.
“Some people prefer to configure their own and are prepared to wait, some are happy to take them so they can get into a car sooner. We’ve got the stock availability so we’re lucky we did it that way.”
So far, she says, the most popular grade has been its top-spec Long Range Dual Motor, followed by the mid-spec Long Range Single Motor and entry-level Standard Range Single Motor which retail for $59,900, $64,900 and $69,900 before on-road costs respectively.
“We’ve had a lot of interest for test drives, with especially high demand in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,” Johnson said.
“This has become even greater recently with EVs really taking off, as well as good PR for the brand happening globally – such as the O2 concept and having a presence at the COP26 climate change summit, at which we were front and centre. Demand has also spiked since the rise in fuel prices too.
“Though there has been an increased demand for EVs generally, we’re seeing customers come in specifically wanting a Polestar, and they are early adopters who are very well researched. They’re adding the packs if they can afford to do so, getting the best spec they can if they’re having an EV for the first time. It helps that we’ve positioned ourselves at the right price.
“Polestar is always doing something exciting, it’s been a great thing to come into for me personally. We’re starting from scratch and have a dedicated team working overtime to build the company up, it’s very rewarding.”
When the Polestar 2 went on sale the firm backed its product with a seven-day money-back guarantee, promising new owners to have one week and up to 500 kilometres with the vehicle before getting a full refund if they’re not totally satisfied. So far no-one has had need to do this we were told.
Although the Polestar 2 is its first vehicle in Australia, with the Polestar 1 hybrid never making it to our shores, it is expected that the Polestar 3 large SUV, Polestar 4 small SUV, and Polestar 5, the production version of Polestar’s striking Precept concept car, are destined for this market.
“There has been no push back on us introducing future models,” added Johnson. “Demand [for the 2 here] is definitely a driver, but that depends on shortages and other constraints going forward around the world which are, of course, hard to predict so far in advance.
“A lot of people are telling us they are excited for their 2 to arrive, but others are going to wait for the 3 SUV, there is definitely going to be a lot of demand for it because it’ll be such a good value proposition, there’s a huge market for that car.”
The Polestar 3, set to share a dedicated EV platform from the Volvo XC90 rather than underpinned by the current 2’s shared base with Volvo XC40, is expected to arrive in Australia early 2023 – with the 4 following in 2024 and the 5 in 2025.
An over-the-air update, bringing Apple CarPlay to the Polestar 2, as it was not available at launch, will come here in the third quarter of this year.
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Keyword: 2022 Polestar 2 sales boosted by EV demand