For over a year, Polestar has been laying out the pieces that’ll make up the Polestar 3 for over a year now.
After a year of teasing the SUV, the electric car aimed right at the Porsche Cayenne is finally here. It debuts with the design language we first saw previewed in the Polestar Precept Concept, which will appear as the Polestar 5 in 2024.
But we’re here to talk about the SUV, not the oh-so-pretty coupe. Headline figures are impressive. It produces up to 517 horsepower and 671 lb-ft of torque in its top spec.
It’ll also ride on the SPA 2 platform, just like Volvo’s EX90, but it’s the first model to be built by Polestar from the jump. That, rather obviously, makes it a car the brand won’t want to mess with. We’ve seen Polestar struggle to push the volume of larger automakers, and breaking into the luxury SUV segment in this manner could seriously help the brand out. The tech should help, too, with the Precept’s SmartZone making an appearance here.
Polestar
Polesta
Polestar
SmartZone is the piece that replaces the combustion car’s grille on Polestar models. It’s a heated panel housing much of the car’s advanced driving systems (ADAS) and safety sensors in one place. Here, it includes a heated radar module and camera and several front-facing sensors, like those for parking distance control.
Tech is a bit of a talking point on this car. Polestar says that collaborations with companies like Zenseact, Luminar, and Smart should give the 3 phenomenally seamless ADAS system integration. Additionally, Polestar now uses an NVIDIA Drive core computer, which acts as the car’s “AI brain,” running software from Volvo. It will process data from the car’s multiple sensors (five radar modules and five cameras) to enable advanced driver-assistance safety features and monitoring.
Bleeding-edge technology is also present in the Polestar 3’s safety systems, with some of Volvo’s latest safety assets making their way into the car. It includes the rear occupancy detection system, which debuted in the EX90. It will pick up sub-millimeter movements, letting you know if anything- or anyone- has been left behind. That system links with the climate control system to prevent heatstroke and hypothermia.
