Polestar 5 2024: preliminary peak at flagship Swedish EV

---

The Polestar 5 four-door GT is set to launch in 2024, giving the Swedish EV specialist a flagship vehicle targeted at the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S Plaid.

In the latest instalment of Polestar’s Concept to Car YouTube series, the carmaker shows the process behind evolving the Precept into the production-ready Polestar 5.

The teaser demonstrates the small changes like the addition of rear door handles on conventional doors, more practical side skirts and a taller windscreen. Chasing Cars reported earlier this year that the production Polestar 5 wouldn’t differ hugely from the Precept concept and thankfully, that appears to be true.

When the Polestar 5 launches it will join a four-strong model range alongside the recently launched Polestar 2 sedan, the Polestar 3 large SUV slated for launch in 2022, and a smaller coupe SUV in the form of the Polestar 4. 

These four vehicles form part of Polestar’s ambitious – but achievable – goal to increase global sales from around 29,000 units in 2021 to 290,000 by 2025. 

How close will the Polestar 5 be to the concept car?

In episode three of Polestar’s series, exterior design manager Nahum Escobedo walks the audience through the process that takes the Precept concept to Polestar 5 reality. 

Mr Escobedo is seen sketching a higher bonnet over the Precept’s lines – presumably to meet pedestrian safety standards – and showing his inspirations which include cameras, architecture, aeroplanes and, overwhelmingly, sharks.

Referring to the front end, Mr Escobedo says: “that’s what we call the shark nose”, which some may remember from gorgeous BMWs penned in the ’70s and ’80s by Paul Bracq, and we reckon that’s a good thing.

The underbitey nose and front end looks to remain intact from the Precept concept with its narrow LED headlights and falling chin, though some details have been lost on the way to production.

In profile it’s clear the sideskirts of the Polestar 5 have been softened for the production model, while the rear end loses some of its outright drama. The ‘suicide’ side doors have also been lost in favour of more traditional openings.

While there is a rear window in the final Polestar 5 iteration (the concept only had a glass roof), the dramatic full-width LED lighting feature looks to make it unchanged. Additionally, the Precept’s long and low proportions have made it into the latest version of the Polestar 5. 

Some have called the Precept concept and subsequent Polestar 5 the ‘coolest electric car so far’, and while that’s a personal opinion it does hold water in Escobedo’s design mentality: “during the process, I don’t look at cars at all, because if you do that you’re sort of locking yourself into a corner.”

How much range and power will the Polestar 5 have?

The Polestar 5 will be built in Chongqing, China on the SPA2 platform shared with the forthcoming Polestar 3 and Volvo’s third-generation XC90.

Unlike the Polestar 2, the 5 won’t be front-wheel drive. Instead, the basic set-up is anticipated to be a rear-mounted 450kW ‘P10’ motor. It’s likely a performance-oriented variant will be offered boasting 650kW of power thanks to the addition of a front electric motor. 

Following the trend set by Polestar 3 and 4, the 5’s range is expected to be upwards of 600km thanks to a 103kWh battery pack that has clever integration of vehicle-to-grid charging, and a zero to t80 percent charge time in the vicinity of 20 minutes.