Swedish EV maker Polestar this week presented its new flagship model, the power-mad Polestar 5 coupe-style sedan. It arrives to replace the flagship mantle left empty in the brand’s lineup when it discontinued the short-lived Polestar 1.
Not for North America?
There’s one big caveat here, however. While Polestar plans to introduce the 5 in many markets, North America is not one of them, at least for now. Why? Mainly, because the EV will be built in China and would thus be subject to hardy tariffs imposed by both the U.S. and Canada. And since European pricing for the Polestar 5 is set at the equivalent of around $194,000 CAD, those tariffs would send its pricing here into astronomical territory.
Design and interior of the Polestar 5
The Polestar 5 is the descendent of the company’s Precept concept presented way back in 2020. And while it bears some resemblance to the Polestar 1, it has four doors and looks sleeker.
A coupe-style design often means sacrificed headroom in the second row, but Polestar went to some lengths to address the interior space issue, notable by including a cutout around the in-floor battery pack, starting right behind the front row of seats. What that does is lower the position of the rear seats, providing the needed headroom. Remains to be seen if it will make passengers there feel like they’re in a (very comfortable) prison cell looking up and out the small rear windows. We shall see.
Note that the Polestar 5 is labeled a four-person sedan, though in a pinch, the centre armrest in back can be lifted up to create a tight extra seat.
Powertrain of the Polestar 5
Polestar will produce two variants of its 5 sedan. The “base” Dual Motor version delivers all-wheel drive vias its two motors, with output pegged at 738 hp and 599 lb-ft of torque. If that’s not enough for you, the Performance versions ups the ante with 872 hp total output and 749 lb-ft of torque. Quite astounding totals.
Polestar says the Dual Motor can speed from a stop to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 3.8 seconds, while the Performance can do it in 3.1 seconds.
All this comes courtesy a 106-kWh (usable) battery sitting under the floor, working in an 800-volt system. DC charging can be done at speeds of up to 350 kW, which translates into a 10-80 percent charging time of 22 minutes in ideal conditions.
As for range, figures were only provided for Europe and its WLTP system, but those work out roughly to 530 km and 480 km for the Dual Motor and Performance versions, respectively.
