The Province

Polestar 7 successor to entry-level model

One of world's bestsellin­g electric cars expected to reach end of life cycle in 2027

- NICHOLAS MARONESE

A new model called the Polestar 7 will act as successor to the brand's entry-level compact crossover, the Polestar 2, but a different number means the automaker has the creative space to develop a radically reinvented vehicle, Polestar's CEO said in an early April interview.

“As much as we might build a very similar car, because it has a different number we won't have this natural trap where we're boxed into that concept of what the car had been,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told the U.K.'s Autocar while confirming the 7 would continue the company's chronologi­cal naming scheme.

The Polestar 2 followed up the automaker's debut model, the Polestar 1, launching in 2020 and just recently seeing a substantia­l update. It quickly became one of the world's bestsellin­g electric cars, but is expected to reach the end of its product life-cycle around 2027, said the magazine.

That timing, along with previously announced plans to bring to market the Polestar 6 electric roadster in 2026, suggests we'll see the 7 no sooner than three years from now.

While the Polestar 7 will take the place of the 2 in the automaker's lineup, Ingenlath repeatedly hinted at the new car marking a departure from the compact crossover we know today. Details, however, were scarce.

“What type of car and how we will do it, we can discuss when it's time,”

the chief exec said. What is known is that the 7 will not ride on the Compact Modular Architectu­re (CMA) the 2 does.

Autocar suggested that the Volvo-derived

platform is set to be swapped out with something else from parent Geely Group's portfolio, possibly the Sustainabl­e Experience Architectu­re (SEA) set to underpin

the upcoming Polestar 4; that car is set to return about 610 kilometres of range and charge at 200 kW.

While technicall­y an offshoot of Geely-owned Volvo, Polestar aims to

establish itself as its own automaker with its own sources of funding. To that end, Volvo in late February reduced its stake in Polestar from 48.3 per cent to 18 per cent.

 ?? ANDREW MCCREDIE ?? The new model of the Polestar is expected to make a departure from the compact crossover we know today.
ANDREW MCCREDIE The new model of the Polestar is expected to make a departure from the compact crossover we know today.

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