2024 Polestar 3 unveiled, Australian pricing confirmed – UPDATE

February 2023: Polestar 3 Australian pricing announced

Australian pricing for the Polestar 3 electric SUV has finally been announced.

As expected, it will arrive in Australia with a starting price of $132,900 – just shy of the estimated circa-$135,000 described to media at the big reveal. Get the full story below, and continue with our reveal story further down.

October 2022: Polestar 3 revealed

The wraps have come off the world’s latest new electric vehicle, with the 2024 Polestar 3 large electric SUV unveiled in Copenhagen this week.

The large five-seat Polestar 3 will go on sale in Australia in the first quarter of 2024, the company has confirmed – leaving the brand to soldier on in the meantime with its solitary but popular launch model, the compact and high-riding Polestar 2 sedan.

JUMP AHEAD

• Battery and motors
• Charging time
• Driving range
• Rivals
• Performance
• Dimensions and storage
• Interior features and materials
• Infotainment
• Safety features
• Warranties and roadside assist
• Equipment packs
• Australian price and availability

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Australian pricing and features are still to be confirmed, but today’s debut at least gives buyers a clear indication of the design, technology, comfort, driving range and performance that will be on offer when the Polestar 3 reaches our market.

The Polestar 3 will launch in Europe from 89,000 euros, which converts to around $140,000 in Australian dollars. For now, Polestar’s local arm has confirmed an estimated price range of around $135,000, making for a fairly direct price conversion – although it remains to be seen if our models will be specified with the same standard equipment levels.

At around that price, and with similar dimensions, it is clear the Polestar 3 will enter as a rival to models like the Audi E-Tron and BMW iX. When it launches, the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV will also stand among these models.

The E-Tron and iX are available in multiple variants, whereas the Polestar 3 has been revealed in just one grade, with an optional 6600-euro (AU$10,000) Performance Pack – arguably a variant in its own right.

Importantly, the Polestar 3 will comfortably outdo all E-Tron variants for price and driving range, match the iX xDrive40 on price and better its driving range, and match the iX xDrive50 on driving range while bettering its $169,900 price. (See our full breakdown table below.)

The Polestar 3 has been revealed with just one dual-motor long-range drive and 111kWh battery specification, but it’s likely we’ll see more affordable options debut at some point – likely in the form of single-motor standard and single-motor long-range variants. Whether either of those will come under $100,000, however, remains to be seen.

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Battery, motors, charging and driving range

Battery and motors

Power in the Polestar 3 is provided by a large CATL-supplied 111kWh 400V lithium-ion battery pack, providing energy to a dual-motor system – one motor at each axle for an all-wheel drive arrangement.

Polestar has confirmed it is developing an 800V battery architecture for its upcoming Polestar 5 performance flagship, making it a rival – at least in electrical tech – to the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT twins, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 twins.

For now, the Polestar 3 will keep company with most other premium EVs that rely on a 400V design.

Across the industry, American startup Lucid appears to hold the record for longest driving range off a similar 113kWh battery size, claiming a 520-mile (840km) range off its 924V system, developed in-house (rather than going to a supplier like Bosch, as most legacy brands do).

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Charging time

Running at its fastest on a DC ‘ultra rapid’ charger, 250kW (which ramps up and down as needed to preserve the battery cells), the Polestar 3 will take its battery from 10 to 80 per cent capacity in 30 minutes.

Connected to an AC charger, the Polestar 3 can take up to 11kW, giving it a 0-100 per cent charge time of 11 hours.

Like its upcoming platform sibling the Volvo EX90, the Polestar 3 will also be capable of bi-directional charging, allowing it to offer V2L (vehicle to load; powering homes and devices or appliances) and V2G (vehicle to grid, feeding any additional solar energy into a city’s power grid to benefit from feed-in tariff programs).

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Driving range

Polestar says the 3 has achieved a preliminary WLTP driving range of up to 610km – matching Hyundai’s smaller new Ioniq 6 sedan (77.4kWh battery) – with an efficiency of around 20 to 21kWh/100km.

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MINI MATCH-UP

*PP – Performance Pack

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Performance

Outputs and acceleration

In its standard form, the Polestar 3 produces 360kW and 840Nm through its front- and rear-mounted all-wheel-drive dual-motor system. The 6600-euro Performance Package boosts these outputs to 380kW and 910Nm.

Polestar says the 3 will hit 100km/h from a standing start in 5.0 seconds, dropping to 4.7 seconds with that Performance Pack in play.

The axle-mounted motors are set up for a rear bias, although no specific numbers have been offered. There’s also a torque-vectoring dual-clutch function at the rear, developed off the Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid coupe, and a decoupling function will also allow the car to run in an energy-saving rear-wheel drive arrangement until the front motor is needed or called on.

Lastly, active one-pedal braking is also included as part of the brake energy recuperation system, with adjustable settings to suit comfort and needs.

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Tyres

As standard, the Polestar 3 rolls on 21-inch alloy wheels, wrapped in either Michelin Pilot Sport 4 EV or Continental SportContact 7 tyres (265/45R21 front and 295/40R21 rear in both cases).

Braking

Brakes are a Brembo package at the front with four-piston calipers on 400mm drilled and ventilated discs, while the rear gets a standard single-piston caliper on 390mm ventilated discs.

Suspension

Suspension is by a double wishbone design at the front, with an integral link setup at the rear.

Perhaps surprisingly, but clearly highlighting Polestar’s focus on a sporting drive with this new model, the 3 is equipped with adaptive, self-levelling dual-chamber air suspension and ZF active dampers. Polestar says the 3 can adjust its active damper velocity once every two milliseconds.

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💪 Performance Pack

Adding the Performance Pack to the Polestar 3 unlocks a software upgrade to 380kW and 910Nm. (How much more could be unlocked, we wonder…)

The 6600-euro upgrade also adds Polestar Engineered chassis tuning, 22-inch forged alloy wheels wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tyres (265/40R22 front, 295/35R22 rear), ‘Swedish gold’ valve caps and seat belts (as with the Polestar 2), a laser-etched gold interior ‘light line’, and a range-optimisation drive mode.

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Interior space, comfort and technology

As a proper large SUV, the Polestar 3 rides on a 2985mm wheelbase and measures 4900mm long overall. Its height is 1627mm, and total width including mirrors is 2120mm. Ground clearance is 211mm.

Thanks in large part to its big 111kWh battery pack, the Polestar 3 is a heavy unit, weighing in at between 2585 to 2670kg, depending on spec – a range fairly common to electric vehicles.

By comparison, the Audi E-Tron sits on a 2928mm wheelbase and measures 4901mm long overall, while the BMW iX boasts similar figures at 2997mm and 4953mm respectively. Weight varies depending on battery and spec, but both are around 2450kg to 2650kg.

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Dimensions and storage

Interior features and materials

Standard features in the cabin include a panoramic glass roof, powered electric tailgate with hands-free opening and soft closing, powered front seats, four cup holders (two front and two rear), and a 12V power outlet in the boot.

Polestar is also making a big point of its “Animal welfare leather”, using leather sourced from Bridge of Weir in Scotland, which complies with strict requirements for the care of the animals used – including 100 per cent traceability from farm to slaughterhouse.

Likewise, no leather is to be sourced from areas with deforestation risk, such as the Amazon.

Depending on the trim material chosen, the Polestar 3’s seats will also show a marking that announces the sustainability declaration and carbon footprint of the materials used – giving the buyer a choice in which they will specify.

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Infotainment

Infotainment is again delivered by Android Automotive OS, as with the Polestar 2.

This means the entire 14.5-inch main display and 9.0-inch driver display interfaces are built on top of Google’s integrated technologies, requiring a Google account (such as a gmail address) to make the most of the features.

Built-in Google features include Google Assistant, Google Maps and the Google Play Store (Google’s equivalent of Apple’s App Store).

There are four USB-C ports, two in the front and two in the rear. Inductive wireless phone charging is through a 15W charging pad.

Driver monitoring is standard, with two dash-mounted cameras monitoring the driver’s eyes to look for signs of distraction, drowsiness or distress.

The Polestar 3 also benefits from an interior radar system, designed to ensure no children or animals are accidentally left in the vehicle. If it does detect a moving or breathing body in the vehicle, it will sound an alert, keep climate control active and block the owner from locking the vehicle. The owner can deactivate this feature, however, as necessary.

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Safety features

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Warranties and roadside assistances

As with the Polestar 2, the Polestar 3 will be sold in Australia with a five-year vehicle warranty, along with a battery warranty of eight years / 160,000km (or if its charge capacity drops below 70% in the first eight years), and a 12-year corrosion warranty. Polestar Connect is free, and roadside assistance is free for five years.

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Equipment packs

The below equipment lists are specific to Europe, with Australian details still to be confirmed.

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2024 Polestar 3 Australian price and availability

The Polestar 3 will go on sale in Australia in the first quarter of 2024, with pricing currently estimated by the local division to come in at around $135,000 before on-road costs.

Watch for more on the Polestar 3, including our first-drive review, to come in the year ahead.

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