Electric vehicle brand Polestar is expanding its partnership with Luminar, announcing it’ll use the latter’s long-range LiDAR technology in its upcoming flagship.
Already confirmed for use in the forthcoming Polestar 3 SUV, the technology will also be employed in the Polestar 5 four-door grand tourer.
The new flagship, inspired by the Precept concept, is set for a 2024 launch.
The announcement comes as Volvo, another company under the Geely umbrella and a part-owner of Polestar, has committed to offering a combination of cameras, radar, sensors and LiDAR for its active safety and driver assist features.
Its EX90, due next year, will be the first Volvo vehicle to employ LiDAR. It will be standard fitment on the three-row SUV, a larger and more practical platform-mate to the Polestar 3.
The move is in sharp contrast to Tesla, which has phased out radar and ultrasonic sensors and ruled out LiDAR in favour of a camera-only set-up called Tesla Vision.
The Polestar 5 will use an 800V electrical architecture and pack a whopping 650kW of power and 900Nm of torque from its dual-motor electric powertrain, up 90kW on even the most powerful Porsche Taycan Turbo S. The Porsche does have an extra 150Nm on tap, however.
Polestar has previously said the 5 will offer “class-leading dynamics, rigidity and safety features” thanks to its new bonded aluminium chassis.
A prototype was previewed last June at the Goodwood Hillclimb at the Festival of Speed, but a set of patent images also published that month gave us an even better look at the new flagship which has styling only minimally toned down compared to the Precept concept.
Polestar has also released some preview images of the model.
The production 5 will complete the initial quintet from the young brand, following the now defunct plug-in hybrid 1 coupe, the high-riding 2 hatchback, the 3 SUV, and the upcoming 4 SUV due this year.
Like other Polestar vehicles, the 5 will be made in China and sold throughout the world.
The Polestar name has come a long way since the motorsports firm began collaborating with Volvo in 1995. In 2013 the company started tuning Volvos for improved performance.
Polestar’s tuning arm was purchased in 2015, with the motorsports division spun off to become Cyan Racing. In 2017 Polestar became its own standalone brand, and was tasked with being Geely’s lead marque for electric vehicles.
Geely has subsequently introduced the Zeekr electric vehicle brand, initially exclusive to the Chinese market but now expanding to Europe.
