The global boss of Polestar has guaranteed there will be a second generation Polestar 2 and it will even be called Polestar 2.
But you’ll have to wait until at least 2028 for it, when the nameplate will be eight years old.
The foundation full-time model from the Chinese-Swedish EV brand, the 2 was at one stage forecast to be replaced by the Polestar 7 compact SUV and later tipped to be renewed but renamed the Polestar 8.
But neither story is true says Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller.
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“There will be a Polestar 2 successor for sure,” Lohscheller told Australian media at the Munich motor show. “It will stay as the Polestar 2 on this new generation.
“That’s important because we have set it up so successfully … it has 180,000 customers at the moment.”
Because it was originally developed to be a Volvo and doesn’t get the same sleek Polestar design as the 3, 4 and new 5, the Polestar 2 has been somewhat the odd model out since its 2020 launch.
It also gets somewhat maligned because a lot of examples were sold into rental fleets to bolster sales numbers.
“Everybody tried really hard to put it on the road and I would say sometimes probably in deals which shouldn’t happen in that way,” admitted Lohscheller.
But its popularity is important at a time when Polestar is focussing on sales over style as it struggles to emerge from its painful birth phase and actually make some money.
That need for volume is why the Polestar 7 has been bumped to the top of model roll-out. To be based on a Volvo platform and be built at a Volvo assembly plant in Slovakia, it will launch in early 2028.
It is expected to become Polestar’s most affordable and popular model.
The Polestar 2 is likely to be next along in the model roll-out, pushing the high-cost low-volume Polestar 6 sports car out of the way as the 7 has already done.
While he was reticent to discuss the details of the next generation Polestar 2, Lohscheller indicated the fundamental concept of a five-door hatch that is more passenger car than SUV, is likely to continue.
“There are arguments for it [retention of the sedan shape] because, obviously, I mean, we call it now really a fastback. It’s an EV fastback, right? But I think it’s a low-roof car, right?
“Let’s word it like this,” he said. “I want to have those current Polestar 2 customers back.
“I want to have those [Polestar 2 customers], right? Because we build it up. I think we did a great job. And I want to keep them in the family.”
The overhaul of the Polestar 2 will be managed by Polestar’s new design chief Phillip Roemers, who joined from Audi this year.
While it is the oldest Polestar on-sale, remembering the limited edition hybrid Polestar 1 was the first model, the 2 has been consistently updated through the years to keep it fresh.
These updates have included battery and other technical improvements and most substantially, single motor models were shifted from front- to rear-wheel drive in 2023.
“I would say it’s absolutely up to date, especially also with the latest modelling changes we did,” argues Lohscheller. “So we compete very, very successfully with the Polestar 2 in … all our key markets.”
Lohscheller said the idea of calling the second-generation the Polestar 8 was abandoned because the new car will be a replacement rather than an expansion of the range.
“If it was a new car, then we could argue, ‘is that a Pulsar 8?’ But that’s not the case,” he said.
With the 5 now launched and rolling into markets progressively over the next year or so, Polestar has a significant gap to the launch of its next all-new model, the 7.
But Lohscheller said that gap would be plugged with some significant model updates: “Some of them might be bigger than in the traditional way,” he teased.
One of the first of them will be a Polestar 2 update that reaches Australia in November. Another possible update is the addition of a permanent BST high-performance derivative.
