POLESTAR

Polestar O2: a worthy opponent Porsche 718 Boxster EV?

Polestar is consolidating itself as a 100% electric brand. The Swedish manufacturer is seriously betting on building a product line with different options marked by a modern, elegant and, above all, very sporty design. These are genes that the brand is applying to future models that will increasingly complement the successful Polestar 2.

The company has already revealed the great novelty that it will present at the end of the year and will put on the market in 2023, the Polestar 3. An SUV with which it will face the crowded D-segment dominated by the four German brands par excellence, but with the Polestar point of view. more towards Porsche. Starting with this model, there will be a launch every year until 2024 with the Polestar 4 and Polestar 5. But sources from the Swedish brand have already advanced the possibility of taking the attractive advance of the Polestar O2 to production.

It was Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of the brand, who spoke of these intentions about the saloon prototype presented at the beginning of last March, pointing out that: “My ambition is to convert it into a production car, but it is not so easy. We need to respect the complexity of the project and understand which direction we want to go with O2. When painting a picture, it's always good to let it rest, then look at it after a few months and see again if it's a good picture. We have to do that with O2.”

The fact that the company is planning to materialize this electric roadster concept is more than interesting, although Ingenlath recognized that it is a real challenge, since one of the maxims is to respect as much as possible the attractive design that it presents. However, this is not a big problem nowadays, as brands have already clarified on more than one occasion that some shapes and traits are easier to maintain in the case of electric models than in combustion models, which condition this issue much more than technical point of view. And since Porsche is the number one contender, the electric 718 Boxster is the real target.

But there are some more interesting details in this question. The first is that the roadster was developed based on the platform of the new Polestar 5, as well as its brutal engines and technical specifications, which is already an important advance, but the company also has a gap to cover: that of the Polestar 1, the limited-edition plug-in hybrid sports car that is already in production. A perfect replacement that will arrive after 2025, once the current program of releases is introduced and launched on the market.

Autonews