Polestar will open its order books before the end of 2021 in Australia, as it gears up to launch its Tesla Model 3 rival during January 2022.
Pre-orders for the Polestar 2 electric car will open “late in 2021”, and customers will actually be able to put down their hard-earned cash on a car during January 2022.
Pricing for the electric sedan-cum-crossover will kick off just below $60,000 before on-road costs, and will extend to just below $70,000 before on-roads.
Polestar has confirmed potential buyers will be able to test drive the 2 as part of a travelling roadshow that kicks off in Sydney during November.
The brand will establish its first in-person, pop-up retail ‘activations’ in Australian capital cities with the exception of Darwin during February 2022, and expects the first of its permanent Polestar Spaces – essentially retail-style showrooms, similar to those used by Genesis – to open in April 2022.
It hasn’t confirmed where the first of those Spaces will be.
Launching a new electric car in Australia isn’t easy, as Hyundai and Polestar’s close relations at Volvo have proven. Supply struggles have turned the Ioniq 5 and XC40 Recharge Pure Electric into hot property, while other big brands such as Volkswagen haven’t been able to get their hands on electric cars at all for Australia.
Polestar isn’t expecting to have the same struggles.
“There are issues with semiconductors, and we certainly recognise the risks for the whole industry,” said Polestar Australia managing director, Samantha Johnson.
“But we’re a launch market here in Australia, and it’s really important that we do have volumes secured for our launch. We are working very hard with our production and logistics team to minimise any risks of supply being short of what we expect,” she said.
“At this stage, we don’t see any supply issues. Everything is on track for the volumes we’re planning,” Ms Johnson said.
Polestar will be allowing buyers to option their cars from the ground-up at launch, but it’ll also be bringing in cars in a range of different trims for people who don’t want to wait.
The range will consist of standard- and long-range, single-motor variants, as well as a long-range dual-motor model.
With prices under $65,000 before on-road costs, the single-motor variants will fall under the threshold for the $3000 electric vehicle rebate in both New South Wales and Victoria.
Polestar will also offer a choice of three option packages – the Pilot Pack, Plus Pack and Performance Pack – which are priced at $5000, $6000 and $8000, respectively.
All models come with free servicing and roadside assistance for five years while, like rival Tesla, there’ll be new features and system upgrades deployed over-the-air.
Polestar is launching here with a direct-to-consumer online sales model, though it’ll also feature physical stores and test-drive centres in cities around Australia. It also plans on using Volvo dealerships for servicing.
MORE: Polestar 2 price and specs
