Polestar will soon join Kia as one of the few electric vehicle makers testing vehicles in Australia before tuning them for Australian conditions, with the brand confirming plans to send its chief test engineer and vehicle dynamics engineer Down Under to validate new products.
The China-backed Swedish EV maker has just one model on sale in Australia at the moment, the Polestar 2, but in the coming months and years it will be joined by the 3, 4 and 5, as the brand’s model rollout finally gathers steam. And it has a way to further differentiate itself from Tesla.
The company that bills itself as an “electric performance brand” says it will ensure its future models handle Australia’s unique, and sometimes awful, road conditions, as well as our penchant for performance, by investing in vehicle testing and tuning here.
The news comes from Polestar’s chief test engineer, Joakim Rydholm, who told CarsGuide that the standard suspension setting would be “a starting point” before a vehicle was further personalised for local conditions.
Asked whether Polestar would develop new models on Australian roads, Rydholm replied:
“Yes, we will. To at least know what works very well there. I will have to go there myself, spend the time, it helps.
“That’s part of my job, to make sure it works. Right now we do a setting as a starting point.”
It’s not yet known just how detailed or involved a local tuning program would be, but the move to do any development work here would help differentiate Polestar from brands like Tesla, with the latter choosing not to invest in local tuning.
But the Swedish brand says it recognises how different road quality can be in markets around the world, calling out Australia, China and the USA as having “special” roads.
It all forms part of Polestar’s push to take on long-standing performance heroes like Porsche in the driver-fun department, with the brand boldly claiming its models will deliver the best steering and steering feel in the electric car world.
“No doubt about that,” said Rydholm when asked directly whether the steering in a Polestar would outshine its performance rivals.
“We spend a lot of time behind the steering wheel to make sure all those components fit properly together,” he says.
“So when you drive the car, it feels like it is supporting the driver. You will feel like you’re driving.”
The Polestar 3, which has been delayed by software issues, will be the next model to launch in Australia, landing in Q1 next year, with the electric SUV closely followed by the Polestar 4.
Keyword: An electric car that's made for Australia? Polestar confirms local testing and tuning program for 2024 Polestar 3 as it puts driver fun first