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Polestar 2 for Australia in 2020 — a Model 3 rival?

Posted
16 May 2019

Volvo subsidiary Polestar will be releasing their all-electric flagship in Australia next year. Pricing for the Polestar 2 remains unconfirmed, but signs point to a potential Model 3 competitor. We look at the specs to see where it stands against Tesla’s latest offering.


Aussies could be forgiven for not knowing who/what Polestar is. The brand emerged in 2017 as a 50:50 offshoot of Swedish automaker Volvo and China’s Geely (Volvo is, in itself, a Geely subsidiary). Their debut Polestar 1 was a plug-in hybrid, so the ‘2 will be the first all-electric offering from Volvo.

The Polestar 2 will be offered for sale online late next year. Some Volvo dealerships will also be outfitted with “Polestar Spaces” displaying a handful of the new models. Volvo are hoping to sell 1800 units in the first year.

Competitive spirit

Polestar have stated the ‘2 is “designed to compete around the Tesla Model 3”. This is a tough ask even with Geely’s resources at their disposal; Tesla have had over a decade in the EV space and sold more Model 3s in the US than all other EVs combined last year.

The Model 3 is also slated for an Australian release late in 2019, so they’ll likely snap up many potential customers before the Polestar 2 is even released. They’ve also been taking deposits on the Model 3 since 2016.

While the Model 3 has a number of variants on offer, the Polestar 2 appears to be targeting the ‘Long Range Dual Motor’ in terms of pricing and specs. Using UK figures as a guide, the similarities are obvious:


Source: EV Database UK (Model 3 & Polestar 2) — figures with * are estimatesSource: EV Database UK (Model 3 & Polestar 2) — figures with * are estimates

We’ll have to wait until both models have been released for a clear comparison but the contest is shaping up to be hot. Pricing will likely be the deciding factor for many Australians, especially with so many other EVs entering the market in the next 12 months.

The Polestar 2 will also be a valuable test-run as Volvo moves to electrify all new cars from this year. They’ve set themselves an ambitious target of having half of all sales be electric by 2025.

This goal appears to be well underway. Just yesterday Volvo announced a long-term battery supply deal with LG Chem and CATL.

Will you be considering the Polestar 2? How do you think it compares to the Model 3? Let us know and check back at the JET Charge blog for more EV news and updates.