Polestar showcased this week its vision for the future: new tech and next-generation vehicles that the Swedish EV company owned by China\u2019s Geely Holdings hopes will spark sales and spur an era of growth.<\/p>\n
The inaugural Polestar Day event in Los Angeles \u2014 designed to sell investors and journalists on its potential for a profitable future \u2014 stood in stark contrast to its present. Just a day prior, the company revised its outlook, cut delivery targets for 2023, announced a fresh investment from Volvo and Geely, and told the market that it\u2019s still going to need another $1.3 billion in external funding in debt and equity until cash flows break even in 2025.<\/p>\n
Walking that line between the company\u2019s financial reality and its product aspirations put even more focus on the event itself.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPolestar Day has of course, a big meaning for us to actually portray and highlight this innovation melange that Is coming together here,\u201d Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told TechCrunch in an interview during the event.<\/p>\n And a melange it was: The company showed off its full future line-up, including the Polestar 3, 4, 5, Polestar Precept, the Polestar Electric Roadster Concept, and the Polestar Synergy. It also made a handful of announcements that at least nominally pulled together its vision for the future and offered investors and journalists rides in the upcoming Polestar 3 and Polestar 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Polestar<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The focus on upcoming models, extremely fast charging, automated driving sensor integration, future vehicle-to-grid technology and announcements about manufacturing suggests Polestar is taking an all-of-the-above approach to growth even as it faces headwinds.<\/p>\n The headwinds are considerable. EV adoption has slowed, especially in the luxury market. The EV industry has been further hamstrung by high interest rates, tariff pressures to bring production to the U.S., economic uncertainty in China and two wars around the world.<\/p>\n Polestar, a small luxury, performance EV automaker, is in a tighter position \u2014 even with large-scale investors like Volvo and Geely. The company has just one model, the Polestar 2, in the U.S. market.<\/p>\n With a recent downward revision to global sales for 2023, all eyes are on the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk about what is happening to this company in the next 18 months,\u201d Ingenlath said, \u201cThese products are coming out in the market and at the same time, we\u2019ve sat down and made sure that we are, in 2025, a profitable company that is cash flow break even.\u201d<\/p>\n The Polestar 3 is due to begin U.S. deliveries in early 2024 and the Polestar 4 goes into production soon, with deliveries in 2025.<\/p>\n Ingenlath says that the company is counting on the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 to help it reach its break even goals by 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cPolestar 3 and 4 are key enablers; they are the core of the business,\u201d he said, underlining the company\u2019s focus on price over volume.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Abigail Bassett<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The company offered attendees the opportunity to ride along in pre-development versions of their forthcoming Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 in short, 10-minute trips around the Santa Monica Airport in stop-and-go traffic.<\/p>\n The Polestar 3 is the more \u201cluxurious,\u201d and larger of the two vehicles, with an SUV-like roofline, ample backseat space and a fully digital cockpit. It\u2019s also the first vehicle that the company has built on a completely new platform. From the backseat the Polestar 3 is quiet, cavernous and comfortable with plenty of leg and headroom. It comes with air suspension that lends itself to enough roadfeel to feel connected, without the heaviness, making it nimble and lighter on its feet.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a single vertical infotainment screen in the center of the dash, and a driver\u2019s information screen attached to the steering wheel column. While you control most of the vehicle\u2019s features (like one-pedal mode and different driving modes), through the main infotainment screen, controls for the headlights and windshield wipers are on the stalk within easy reach.<\/p>\n The Polestar 4 is the SUV-coupe of the lineup with a swooping roofline \u2014 believe it or not, no rear window.<\/a> That untraditional omission allowed designers to give rear passengers more headroom and legroom, according to the company. The Polestar 4 has a slightly shorter wheelbase than the 3, but from a rear passenger\u2019s perspective, it doesn\u2019t feel claustrophobic \u2014 even without the rear window.<\/p>\n In the Polestar 4, the driver\u2019s digital rearview mirror. The sunroof extends back just behind the crown of the rear passenger\u2019s heads so it doesn\u2019t feel like a coffin, even though there\u2019s no glass behind the seats. Ambient lighting around the interior almost makes the lack of a rear window unnoticeable.<\/p>\n The Polestar 4 also gets a large central infotainment screen, but it is oriented horizontally, rather than vertically and the driver\u2019s information screen is mounted to the dash, instead of the steering column. There is no HUD in the Polestar 4, and unlike the 3, it comes with steel spring suspension. That set up makes it feel harsher on potholed roads and translates undulations and heavy-feeling movement for passengers in the rear seats.<\/p>\n The technology and the ride-along experience wasn\u2019t the surprising part. Instead, it was how excited customers who joined TechCrunch in the cars were for the future vehicles. One customer from Indiana told us that he had a Polestar 3 on order and during the ride along he was so thrilled by the infotainment screen features, he couldn\u2019t keep his hands off them.<\/p>\n Polestar also used its inaugural event to highlight tech partnerships with companies like Luminar, Mobileye and StoreDot, a battery company that Polestar invested in last year.<\/p>\n Most of these tech partnerships, such as its relationship with lidar company Luminar, aren\u2019t new; the companies had announced an agreement to work together<\/a> in February this year and plans to incorporate lidar alongside the Mobileye Chauffeur technology was announced in August 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n The point, it seems, wasn\u2019t to make new announcements, but instead show what capabilities these next-gen vehicles could have.<\/p>\n For instance, the Polestar 4 will have lidar, which will support an advanced driver assistance system that will provide eyes-off automated driving on highways. That system, however, is not fully baked.<\/p>\n During the presentation, Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua, who was not in attendance but had pre-recorded his statements, showed off video of a Polestar 4 using Mobileye technology to navigate a roundabout. While the vehicle was able to successfully enter traffic, merge and exit without input by the driver, it was not the smoothest execution. The video showed the prototype vehicle stopping and starting as it entered the roundabout traffic, much like an unsure driver would. During his recorded remarks, Shashua said that the video was recorded just last week.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Polestar<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Perhaps one of the more intriguing companies highlighted at the event was StoreDot<\/a>, an Israel-based battery company that makes pouch cell batteries with what it calls extremely fast charging or XFC capabilities.<\/p>\nBanking on Polestar 3 and Polestar 4<\/h2>\n
First Rides: Polestar 3 and Polestar 4<\/h2>\n
![\"polestar](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/polestar-day-interior-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFuture batteries, V2G and automated driving<\/h2>\n
![\"Polestar](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Polestar_battery_module_prototype.jpg\")
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