Over the next few weeks, we'll be getting to know the 2025 Polestar 3 a little better. This is the first chapter of our long-term test of the EV.
The car I'm about to tell you about was one of the very few Polestar 3s on the road. From October through to the holiday season, I didn't come across another one. If I had, it would have been driven by one of two members of the company's Canadian executive team: Hugues Bissonnette, Polestar's Director for Canada, and Jérôme Toussaint, the Quebec-based Regional Operations Manager.
Orders for the Polestar 3 began to come in several months ago, but deliveries have only just begun. Why the delay? Multiple updates to the car's software.
Men of many hats…
Executives Hugues and Jérôme were tasked with driving the 3 to test the software and report back to the engineers, who immediately set about improving it. And in fact, I had the same task.
Said Hughes, upon handing me the fob, “You won't mind driving a car that’s likely to frustrate you?”
On the contrary! I've always wanted to be a “beta” tester for a consumer product. Video game manufacturers do this with their new titles. Before releasing them to the public, maniacs test them.
In Hollywood, film companies organize private screenings for target groups of viewers to find out in advance what they think of their latest movie. People like you and me make a good living testing products before Canadian Tire and many other retailers put them on their shelves.
Removing the wrinkles
In my case, I was going to have the honour of checking out both the good and the not-so-good aspects of a $100,000-plus automobile! I applauded Hugues' confidence in entrusting an imperfect vehicle to an automotive reviewer.
Did I experience any bugs? Quite a few. And I will tell you about them, in a later chapter. Not to put you off buying a Polestar 3 forever, but to show you the amount of fine-tuning required in an age when cars increasingly walk and talk like computers on wheels.
But first, a moment to situate Polestar for those who might not be familiar with it.
The origins
In the beginning, there was Polestar (actually Flash Engineering, its original name circa 1996), operating as an independent speed specialist. Its Polestar Performance division modified Volvos in the manner of Mercedes-Benz' AMG, while another division, Polestar Racing, sent them hurtling down the racetrack.
That's how the world came to know the Volvo V60 Polestar and S60 Polestar, as well as the Volvo C30 S2000 and S40 Super Touring.
In 2015, the two departments met separate fates. Volvo swallowed the tuning division, while the racing division became Polestar Cyan Racing, with Polestar collaborating with Cyan to continue racing cars.
Two years later, in 2017, Volvo announced that Polestar would now be a brand specializing in high-performance electric vehicles. Its logo symbolizes its name: the North Star.
It’s relevant to point out here that Volvo, founded in Sweden in 1927 and owned by Ford for 11 years from 1999 to 2010, was bought by the Chinese group Geely in 2010. Fun fact: Ford paid $6.5 billion for it, Geely $1.8 billion. In any case, all of it is to say that the parent company of Polestar and Volvo is Chinese. And if there's one country where EVs are popular, it's China.
However, Polestar focusing on electrification doesn't mean Volvo isn’t keeping its hands on the electric thing. Case in point, the current EC40, EX30, EX40 and EX90, all of them all-electric. By 2030, Volvo expects to build only EVs, which they will sell only online.
But here’s a little secret: Polestars are sharper and faster.
The lineup
I bet you guessed it: before the Polestar 3, there were the 1 and the 2!
The Polestar 1 is a GT 2+2 plug-in hybrid inspired by the 2013 Volvo Coupé Concept and based on Volvo's SPA platform (60 and 90 series). 382-hp gas engine + 2 electric motors + 34-kWh battery. Range 150 km. Bodywork combines carbon-fibre and polymer. In 2019, the Chengdu plant in China produced just 1,500 units. You can admire one of the 1s in the Polestar showroom in Laval, just north of Montreal. It's not for sale...
Launched in late 2019, The Polestar 2 is a 4-door fastback built on the Volvo XC40 platform. It's also a rival to Tesla's Model 3. In fact, I'd venture to say that the Polestar brand's primary mission is to undermine the success of Elon Musk's company.
With worldwide sales of more than 160,000 units to date (we're seeing them all over Canada), the 2 has swept up a number of awards, both internationally and here at home.
The Polestar 3, the subject of my three-month test drive, is the brand’s first SUV. It shares the platform of the Volvo EX90, but without a third row of seats. It has a big 111-kWh battery and comes in two versions: Long Range Dual Motor with 489 hp and Performance Package with 517 hp. Polestar gives ranges of 506 and 449 km respectively... according to European tests. More on that later.
My tester was the more powerful of the two. My first adventure in it? A Montreal-Quebec City roundtrip. I'll tell you all about it in the next part of our review.