The Polestar 3 made its Australian debut in Victoria this week, at the Melbourne EV Show 2023. It’s scheduled to arrive in local showrooms in 2024.
Polestar, if you haven’t heard of the brand, is owned by Volvo and its parent company, Geely, based in China. It was a sub-brand of Volvo for its performance stuff, and before that, an official motorsport partner but a stand-alone company.
Now though, Polestar is a premium performance brand that is off to a cracking start with the Polestar 2. The 2 is a mid-size electric vehicle pitched square up against the Tesla Model 3. As for this new Polestar 3, yep, it goes up against the Tesla Model Y and other large luxury SUVs.
Two variants will be offered in Australia, at least initially, with the Long range Dual motor and Long range Dual motor Performance Pack. Both feature a massive 111kWh battery, unleashing 360kW and 840Nm through front and rear motors.
The Performance Pack turns it up to 380kW and 910Nm. That means 0-100km/h is possible in 5.0 seconds, or 4.7 seconds for the Performance. These are just target times for now so the official production version might be slightly different.
Polestar is boasting a range of very advanced active and proactive safety systems with the new model, and a smart computer system based on NVIDIA DRIVE core. Polestar has partnered with technology firms, Zenseact and Smart Eye, to come up with a comprehensive Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) as well.
The ADAS package incorporates five radar modules, five external cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors to essentially keep a constant eye on the road and the vehicle’s surroundings. It will eventually come with enhanced 3D scanning capability as well, in preparation for autonomous driving.
Australian customers will be able to order the Polestar 3 with the optional Pilot Pack including the advanced LiDAR package from Luminar, but orders for these are not expected to arrive until the third quarter of 2024.
The complete list of standard features and specs for Aussie models will be announced closer to its launch in the first quarter of 2024, but as a guide, Polestar confirms a glass roof, 21-inch alloy wheels, and a 25-speaker sound system for the first model year as standard.
A 14.5-inch touch-screen running full Google services is also coming as standard, powered by a Snapdragon Cockpit Platform from Qualcomm Technologies. Prices for the 3 start from $132,900 and from $141,900 for the Performance Pack (excluding on-roads).
The Polestar 3 will be on display at the Melbourne EV Show, running from September 22-24, this weekend. It’s being held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
