Polestar 3 designer Nahum Escobedo lists 'potato-shaped' cars among his pet peeves

Speaking to Polestar 3 design lead Nahum Escobedo at the large SUV’s Australian unveiling, it became clear the company doesn’t care much for trends, fads or gimmicks. So while Chinese company Geely may own Polestar’s majority shareholder, Volvo, the brand’s ethos remains decidedly Scandinavian.

One battle for the design team was balancing aero efficiency with visual presence. To give the Polestar 3 a high bonnet line without rounding its edges, Escobedo and his team came up with a novel nose wing to keep the visual balance of an SUV without resorting to overly rounded edges for efficiency – something Esobedo is not a fan of.

“A lot of details around Polestar 3 like the wings and the SmartZone at the front where we cluster all the sensors and cameras, we have them because they have a function. Nothing is there by accident or as a styling exercise”, Escobedo explained.

If you really want that sort of entertainment, you know, you go to Vegas, or you go to a nightclub maybe? I don't know. But not in our cars!

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That begged the question: what are Nahum’s design pet peeves?

“One of them is the roundness of cars that are becoming almost potato-shaped, or like a Jelly Bean because that's perfect for aerodynamics. Obviously, we want to do something different”, he replied.

Nahum didn’t name brands, but it’s not hard to look at the landscape and see what he’s talking about. Plenty of brands including Tesla, BYD, and the Mercedes’ EQ range seem to be falling into the aero-is-everything design trap. You could also accuse them of being guilty of Escobedo’s next peeve.

“Another trend you're starting to see quite often is with interiors and exteriors – especially the interior – you have the option of any colour you want from the palette of lights.

"There are so many lights everywhere that I feel like I’m in a mini-Vegas! So many buttons, so many lights: this is purple, this is green, this is orange.

“The same thing is happening with exteriors, a lot of designs have started to integrate welcome lights, please walk lines etc. and these things will eventually become this sort of Christmas lights on the street.

“At least in our brand, when you see our cars you will see the dual blades, you’ll see the brake lights, and you will not be disturbed by all these lights going around the car, because at the end of the day we want these vehicles to be for the driver to experience and enjoy the drive. If you really want that sort of entertainment, you know, you go to Vegas, or you go to a nightclub maybe? I don't know. But not in our cars!” Said an impassioned Escobedo.

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The last point, again, speaks to flashiness that some might describe as chintz or over-advertising. Whatever you call it, it doesn't match Polestar's Scandinavian ethos.

"We take a lot of pride and spend hours and hours trying to make sure that our cars look a certain way so that when you look at them you say ‘that's a Polestar’ because of the way it's designed, not because it has an emblem the size of a wheel.

"That's part of the Scandinavian design philosophy. If you go to a furniture store, you will be able to detect which chair comes from Scandinavia – the same thing with our cars. The emblem is integrated, it has a function – it is our brand – but when you look at the design you know it’s a Polestar, not because of the humongous label”, Escobedo laughed.

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It's all in good fun, of course, and there are plenty of reasons why manufacturers may prefer a more rounded look for a vehicle, use a big badge, and examples of tasteful integrations of interior lighting exist.

As a new brand, though, it's important for Polestar to define itself and not follow flash-in-the-pan trends. As the first purely Polestar-developed vehicle, the 3 is about setting the standard.

To speak put it in Nahum's words: "This is our definition of what a luxury SUV should be nowadays. I always tell people that the Polestar 3 is not a people mover, it’s also for the driver; an SUV for the driver that also happens to be a luxury SUV as well."