INNOVATION TO THE FOUR(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 51

With the Polestar 4, the brand needed to do something different. They have. This electric Coupe-SUV is nothing quite like any of its talented premium badged mid-sized EV rivals and will be a desirable trinket for the right kind of customer. Whether it's the volume model Polestar needs is another question.

Background word count: 223

The Polestar 4. It's a different kind of Polestar. A different kind of EV. And, the brand says, a different kind of mid-sized SUV-Coupe. The model number doesn't designate a larger car - the '4' fits into the range between the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 EVs - but it is, as that numeral suggests, the fourth design that this increasingly international manufacturer has bought us. The marque is grounded in Sweden and its cars are built in (and financed by) China. The models are partly engineered in the UK and are marketed by a brand listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York. The company's future will partly depend on this so-called 're-invention of the Coupe-SUV' because this Polestar 4 is expected to take over from the Polestar 2 as the company's top seller by 2025, by which time the brand expects to be selling 155,000-165,000 cars a year. Directly in its sights are models like the latest Porsche Macan EV, as well as existing players like the Tesla Model Y and the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron. To stand out, this '4' will need to make headlines - and already has, launched as the first production car to be introduced without a rear window. But there's a lot more to this Polestar than that - as we're about to find out...