Volvo-owned electric car entrant Polestar is poised to launch its first SUV, the 2023 Polestar 3, in Australia this time next year, once production ramps up in China.
While Polestar Australia is yet to officially confirm timing, Drive understands first local deliveries of the Chinese-built Polestar 3 are due to commence in early 2023 – a year after the arrival of the brand’s first model, the Polestar 2, due this month.
The Polestar 3 is the first SUV from the electric vehicle (EV) brand – jointly owned by Sweden’s Volvo and its Chinese parent company Geely – and will be the first of three new Polestar EVs due by the end of 2024.
Source: Reddit.
While the covers aren’t set to come off officially until early in the second half of 2022, Polestar teased the new Polestar 3’s styling last year, which blends elements of the Polestar Precept sedan concept with a taller body, sloping ‘coupe-styled’ roofline and flared rear haunches.
The Polestar 3 is expected to be twinned under the skin with the electric successor to the Volvo XC90 (which is set to wear the Embla name) – though the sportier Polestar will offer two rows of seats (to the Volvo’s three), and offer more power from its single- and dual-motor drivetrains.
While North American vehicles will be built in Volvo’s factory in Charleston, South Carolina, Polestar Australia has confirmed local examples will be sourced from China – believed to be the same Chengdu factory home to global Polestar 2 production.
Other highlights of the Polestar 3 will eventually include a new Level 3 semi-autonomous driving system, combining computing power from US firm Nvidia, lidar sensors from US company Luminar, and processing software from Volvo subsidiary Zenseact.
The 2023 Polestar 3 is expected to make its global debut early in the second half of this year. Overseas deliveries will commence before the end of 2022, with a local launch tipped to occur early next year.
Polestar is said to be targeting a starting price of approximately €75,000 ($AU110,000) in Europe, pushing into the home turf of the Porsche Cayenne and petrol-powered large luxury SUV establishment.
It will be followed by the Polestar 4 in 2023, a mid-sized coupe SUV sized similarly to a Porsche Macan, and the Polestar 5 in 2024, the production version of 2020’s Precept concept.
Keyword: Polestar 3 electric SUV due in Australia in 2023, sourced from China