- Polestar is working on a new premium compact SUV.
- The Polestar 7 wants to steal sales from the Porsche Macan.
- Production will take place in Europe before end of the decade.
Polestar has a logical solution to its current run of poor sales. It’s jumping into the premium compact SUV market with an EV rival to the likes of the Porsche Macan Electric that will be on sale before the end of the decade.
Less logical is the name of this new Macan fighter. It’s going to be called the Polestar 7, which could be kind of confusing given that it will be smaller than the Polestar 3 seen in the picture at the top of this page. Previous intel suggested the 7 will replace today’s 2 crossover, but Polestar tells us that is not the case.
Related: Radical Polestar 7 SUV Will Arrive Before 2030
Not confusing at all is Polestar’s decision to follow up the sedan-shaped 2 crossover with something more overtly SUV-shaped, given that’s what buyers currently crave.
“Polestar is known for its progressive design, with each car standing out and creating its own buzz – so too will Polestar 7,” said Philipp Römers, Head of Design at Polestar.
“It is incredibly exciting to bring Polestar’s design ethos to a new segment. Polestar 7 will be everything our customers expect from us, both in terms of design and performance.”
Will it have a back window?
The company’s 4 crossover attracted plenty of attention and criticism when it debuted with a body-colored panel where the rear window is normally sited. Polestar reasons that there’s no need for glass when you have cameras. It’s not clear whether the 7 will follow suit, but we can be sure it’ll be no wallflower.
Polestar will build the 7 in Europe to avoid import tariffs placed on cars coming to the continent from China, where European-market 2s are built. Romers didn’t specify what platform the 7 would use, but the Geely SEA architecture found under the Smart #3 and Polestar 4 seems like a safe bet.
Polestar needs the 7 now
The Swedish automaker revealed plans for the 7 in 2022 but re-confirmed them this week to help put a positive spin on the company’s state of the union address, in which it had to face up to some worrying results during 2024. Full-year figures haven’t been revealed yet but demand for the new 3 SUV and 4 crossover was lower than expected and sales and revenue fell 8 and 10 percent respectively in Q3. Sales did pick up in the fourth quarter, Polestar claimed, however, and the company is forecasting growth of over 30 percent in the next three years, Bloomberg reports.
Other positive news out of Polestar’s strategy update includes a planned increase in the number of retail outlets from 106 to 187, the potential to make triple-digit-million dollar amounts from selling CO2 credits to dirtier automakers, and the impending arrival of the Polestar 5 sports car later this year.