Polestar 4 first look: A new breed of electric vehicle?

Join Jonny on a deep dive into Polestar’s fastest and most sustainable crossover yet. Keep reading to find out how the all-new 4 compares to key rivals like Porsche’s Macan Electric. 

The new Polestar 4 must be Sweden’s most eagerly anticipated export since Abba released Dancing Queen in 1976.  

Ok, so that’s not technically correct, given Polestar now manufactures its cars in Chengdu, China, but the Late Brake Show host quickly discovers that this latest model is dripping with the sort of elegant styling and satisfying solutions that are synonymous with Swedish design.  

Sporting a wheelbase that’s two millimeters longer than a Range Rover and an aggressively sloping roofline, the obvious first question is: what exactly is it? Well, Jonny hears it straight from the horse’s mouth as he’s joined by Polestar’s Head of Design, Max Missoni. Apparently, the Polestar 4 is “A new breed of vehicle… one with an SUV ride height and stance, but an extreme coupe silhouette.” Or, as Jonny succinctly puts it “It’s a sleek, four-door, five-seat, car.” 

Analysing the Polestar’s lines in more depth, Missoni explores classic family design cues like the Dual Blade headlights (an evolution of Thor’s Hammer from the Volvo era), as well as a new windowless rear that’s making headlines. While the latter might seem peculiar and a little impractical, Missoni explains there’s method in the madness, detailing the improvements in headroom and aerodynamics yielded by swapping glass for a rear-view camera. 

The 4’s unique styling is one thing, but you’re probably more interested in how the Polestar performs compared to its smaller sibling (the 2) and closest competitor, Porsche’s electric Macan. As you might’ve guessed, the new 4 lands somewhere in the middle. In Dual Motor Long Range guise the 4 clocks a 3.8 second 0-60 mph sprint, shaving 0.4 seconds off the fastest Polestar 2, but trailing behind the ballistically fast Macan Turbo by five tenths. 

As far as practicality and range go, it’s almost a dead heat between Polestar’s latest and the EV Macan. Both cars offer around 380 miles of range and a boot capacity in excess of 520 litres. However, with prices starting at under £60,000 for a single motor or £67,000 for a dual motor, the Polestar 4 blows the £95,000 Macan Turbo out of the water as a value proposition.  

But why does it feature 13 cameras? And how has Polestar created an interior that’s as futuristic as it is sustainable? All this, and much more, in the video above.