Polestar, the electric performance brand spun out of Volvo Cars, stated the base price of its first all-electric vehicle is going to be $59,900 in the United States, lower than originally assumed.
The 2021 Polestar 2, an electric performance fastback, is the first electric vehicle to come out of a brand that was reintroduced three years earlier. Polestar was once a high-performance brand under Volvo Cars. It was recast as an electric performance brand in 2017. The intention behind doing so was to produce exciting and fun-to-drive electric vehicles — a niche that Tesla was the first to build and continues to dominate the segment.
The automaker believes the vehicle is well-positioned for a successful entry into the U.S. market due to its lower pricing, tax incentives and the ability for clients to purchase it online, said Gregor Hembrough, who heads up Polestar USA. The U.S. prices are also less than the incentive thresholds in a few critical markets such as California and New York.
Polestar has been trickling out announcements around the future Polestar 2 for months now, including pricing for Europe, which begins at €58,800 ($64,010). On Thursday, the company showed a few more pricing details for the various options clients can purchase, including a $5,000 performance pack, a $4,000 update of Nappa leather interior and $1,200 for 20-inch alloy wheels.
The Polestar 2 will probably be held up as a potential rival to the Tesla Model 3. The costs on the two vehicles don’t quite match up unless the $7,500 federal tax incentive, for which Polestar still qualifies, is being thought over. Tesla no longer qualifies for the federal tax credit because it has sold over 200,000 electric vehicles.
Stripping out the incentives, the base price of the Polestar 2 is little more expensive than the performance version of the Model 3, which begins at $56,990.
Until the automaker starts delivery to the U.S., which is expected this summer, it would remain unclear how it stacks up against the Model 3.
Polestar is intending to attract consumers with tech and the performance specs of the fastback, which produces 408 horsepower, 487 pound feet of torque and has a 78 kWh battery pack that provides an estimated range of 292 miles under Europe’s WLTP. Polestar hasn’t provided the EPA estimates for the Polestar 2.
The interior of the Polestar 2, which includes Google’s Android Automotive operating system.
Polestar is jointly owned by Volvo Car Group and Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding. It plans to open physical retail showrooms called Polestar Spaces once lockdown restrictions prompted by the COVID-19 coronvirus pandemic are lifted. The first of these locations will resume on the West Coast of the United States and New York in late summer 2020, the company stated.
The Polestar 2 will be available in all of the 50 states of the US to buy or lease.
