Currently reading: Volume-chasing Polestar 7 will "behave totally like a Polestar"

Swedish firm targets significant sales growth with expanded line-up led by crucial new electric SUV

The forthcoming Polestar 7, the brand’s first mass-market model, is set to be a far bigger seller than any of its current line-up but will retain the premium billing and dynamic credentials of those cars.

The Europe-made, Europe-focused crossover is being primed as the catalyst behind a significant growth in sales for the Swedish car maker.

Polestar has not yet said whether it will use its own architecture for the 7 or adapt a platform from the wider Geely group, as it has done with each of its current models. Either way, CEO Michael Lohscheller was keen to emphasise the firm’s commitment to ensuring the new 7 looks, drives and feels like an authentic Polestar.

Asked if he had any concerns about a more mainstream model diluting Polestar’s premium positioning, Lohscheller said: “No, because we’ll make sure we get the Polestar DNA right into it. That’s the key task of our R&D teams: to make sure that Polestar DNA, in terms of chassis tuning, behaviour, look and feel, comes in, and it behaves totally like a Polestar.”

Citing the stark differences between the Polestar 3 and the closely related Volvo EX90 as an example of how two cars that share a platform can still be obviously differentiated models, Lohscheller said: “If you take the Polestar 3 and the EX90, I would argue it’s executed very well. The Volvo is comfort and safety, nice and easy for the commute; the Polestar is a performance car – you feel it in how it drives. The suspension is different, the chassis tuning is different.”

The comparison suggests that while the Polestar 7 might be similar in size and closely related to sibling models from Volvo, Zeekr or Lotus, for example, it will be engineered to have a markedly distinct dynamic character that’s in line with Polestar’s sporting billing.

The 7 will also be distinguished by an evolved design language that Lohscheller says will be rolled out to all Polestar models to make them “more confident” and better show off their performance potential.

“Design is of the highest importance,” he added. “[The 7] needs to have a very compelling design, obviously in the Polestar style. Maybe a bit more confidence going forward, and the performance element is also super important.”

Lohscheller also said a defining tenet of this new treatment – as being defined by new head of design Philipp Römers – will be making the cars “less minimalistic”. But he stressed that the brand will not seek to completely overhaul its styling cues, so the 7 will be recognisable as a sibling of the 2, 3 and 4.

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“I wouldn’t say different,” Lohscheller said of the new look. “Design is always evolving. It will develop, especially with a new head of design, but I would say we’ll keep the basics in terms of Scandinavian design, but I want to have a bit more confidence.”

Lohscheller stopped short of confirming whether this new design approach means the Polestar lineup will be available in a broader and brighter spread of colour options than those currently offered.

Polestar has already announced the 7 will be built in Europe; Lohscheller said a precise location will be confirmed in the coming weeks. Volvo’s Ghent factory in Belgium is one candidate, but that will soon be supplemented by a new Volvo plant in Slovakia, which could also accommodate some Polestar production.

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Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: Deputy editor

Felix is Autocar's deputy editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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eelectric 4 June 2025
Nobody knows how a Polestar is supposed to drive because so far they drive identically to Volvos, which is to say they're pretty much average and a bit boring. For a brand that's said they're a Porsche rival, I've yet to see that actually come to fruition. The 2 feels like your average economy car turned EV. The 3 drives like a big heavy EV SUV with a smidge of engagement, but car from Cayenne beating feel or engagement. All of their cars also suffer from terrible use of space. The 3 is based on a 3-row family SUV, yet it has a smaller boot than a Kia EV6 that's nearly a foot shorter. The 2's interior is also extremely cramped due to the huge transmission tunnel they kept from the ICE platform it's based on, and the 4 feels extremely claustrophobic in back from its huge cave-like wraparound ceiling from the lack of a window. The 4's RWD trim is woefully underpowered, while the AWD model has no active rear differential like the Macan or even Kia EV6 GT and Ioniq 5 N. Then there's their decision to force you to spend 5 grand just to get ventilated seats and leather, which is ridiculous. Polestar should've just been kept under Volvo as their performance arm instead of being separated out as its own brand. Zeekr has much more exciting 800V models like the 001. Geely has too many brands all completing against one another. There's no reason the Polestar 3 couldn't be sold as the EX90 Coupe, the 2 could've been called the ES40, the 4 could have been called the EX50. Odds are with a Volvo badge each model would be selling multiple times as many units as they're doing now.
Peter Cavellini 3 June 2025

Are Polestar cars only painted in three colours?, I've seen white black and grey.

289 3 June 2025

Why is everyone putting 'joke' wheels on their EV's (except Cupra).

Looks like a clowns car and difficult to take seriously.

Volkswagens alloy design is awful now too -sort of spirograph designs, with that awful spun shiny finish( 'Diamond finish' they call it) which we all know from decades ago, and unlike a 'diamond', wears really badly and then looks scruffy.

Me thinks that the designers have run out of ideas and just playing with ever wackier ideas.....clearly nice 5 or 7 spoke wheels are no longer allowed.