The 3 is available to order now, with prices starting at £79,900 and production set to begin early next year.
The Performance Pack, which also includes performance-based tweaks to the air suspension and unique 22in alloys, costs an additional £5600.
The 3 will be the first Polestar model built at a Volvo factory in Chengdu, China. From 2024, it will also be built at Volvo’s factory in South Carolina, the US.
The model will feature bi-directional charging, to allow for vehicle-to-grid functionality. This will enable the 3 to discharge energy from its battery back into a home or the electricity grid.
Polestar has joined a project in Gothenburg, Sweden, looking at vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and is committing a fleet of 3s to the project with a goal of “finding true business potential models for V2G and trial tangible use cases that can be scalable and applicable across regions”. The project will start in the first half of 2024 and run for two years.
The firm has also joined a pre-study in California looking at vehicle-to-grid possibilities in the US state.
First ride: New 2023 Polestar 3
The Polestar 3 breaks new ground for the company in not being created as a model with a performance focus and positioning at its core. Sibling to the Volvo EX90, the 3 is a large SUV that is still styled in a way that gives it a sleek profile in the metal and it looks far less hefty and slab sided than others in the class.
We ride in the back on our short loop around a residential area of Santa Monica and straight away you’re impressed by how much space there is in the back. There’s plenty of leg room and head room, even with a large panoramic roof that in other cars might eat into the latter.
There’s a real sense of airiness, heightened by pleasing, light material choices that feel modern and good quality to the touch. You don’t feel as though you’re in a Volvo either thanks to the different choice of materials, even if the dual screens in the front are also common to its Swedish sibling.