Volvo's high-performance subsidiary confirmed more about pricing for the Polestar 2 this week, setting the stage for a showdown with the Tesla Model 3.
The all-electric Polestar 2 has its sights set on the Long Range variants of the smaller Tesla sedan, and thanks to this week's announcement, we now know they'll be very similarly priced in Europe, where the Polestar 2 is now available for order.
The biggest divide in EU pricing is in Germany, where the Polestar 2 will start at 58,800 euros (vs. 54,800 euros for the Model 3 Long Range AWD); the gap in The Netherlands and Belgium is a bit smaller (around 1,000 euros). In the UK, Polestar's 49,900-British-pound price tag is 2,000 pounds dearer than the Tesla's.
Those prices equate to $64,600 in Germany and $61,000 in the UK. That's not far from what Polestar has said about U.S. pricing—that it will cost $63,000 for the first year’s Launch Edition of the model, which will be eligible for the full $7,500 federal plug-in tax credit.
Some time after that, a base version is expected to join the lineup at $43k to $45k, or about $45,400 (39,900 euros) in Europe—or be available by subscription—but both of those things are more than a year out.
Polestar 2
The Polestar 2 will boast more than 400 horsepower and do 0-60 mph in less than five seconds. Those specs fall short compared to the Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD Performance, which offers more than 450 hp and accelerates to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds.
While potential buyers may be disappointed by these shortcomings, it's important to note that the Polestar 2 is pretty much a by-the-numbers match for the Long-Range AWD variant of Tesla's small sedan, which offers a little over 400 horsepower and does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. Both Tesla variants pack a 75-kwh battery pack, which yields a sliver of capacity to the Polestar 2's 78 kwh.
Polestar bundles three years of service and maintenance as part of its out-the-door pricing, which should provide peace of mind for early adopters. The launch markets for Polestar 2 will be Norway, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. We won't see any versions of the Polestar 2 in the United States until late in 2020.
Polestar also outlined the new sedan's available Performance Pack, which includes 4-piston Brembo brakes, an adjustable suspension and 20-inch forged alloy wheels. The result, its engineers say, is "a car that wants to be driven."
"We spent a lot of time obsessing over the finest details of the Performance Pack chassis set-up to find the car’s sweet spot; we call it the 'Golden Ride,'" said Chassis engineer Joakim Rydholm.