Polestar, Volvo’s standalone electric performance brand, has unveiled a new vehicle which is its answer to the Tesla Model 3. This is the brand’s first all-electric vehicle called the Polestar 2. It’s a five-door fastback and it seems like the company has developed it to deliver tough competition to the Model 3 in key markets such as the United States, China, and Europe.
The Polestar 2 will be avaialble with a 78 kilowatt-hour battery pack with two electric motors and has an estimated EPA range of nearly 275 miles. The all-wheel drive electric powertrain is capable of producing 300 kW which is about the same as 408 horsepower with 486 lb-ft of torque. These numbers put it above the current cheapest rear-wheel variant of the Model 3.
The official figures provided by the company say that this vehicle will be able to go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in under five seconds. That’s also very competitive compared to the mid-range Model 3 and is just below the performance version of Tesla’s mass-market electric car.
It also has some interesting tech inside. The Polestar 2’s infotainment system will be powered by Android OS which means that the Google services experience will be vastly improved, with drivers having access to services such as Google Maps, Assistant, and even the Google Play Store right from the car’s display. It will be more useful than Android Auto which is essentially a secondary interface on top of a car’s infotainment system.
Volvo says that the base price of this vehicle will be 39,900 euro, that’s roughly $45,400. The “launch edition” will be the one that customers can get in the first year of production. It’s going to be a bit more expensive at 59,900 euro or around $68,000. These prices don’t reflect any federal or state incentives that may be applied for buying an all-electric car. Polestar 2’s production will begin early next year.
Filed in . Read more about Electric Cars and Volvo.