Polestar 4: No Rear Window, No Problem

What is it?

Here at Wheelsboy we generally don’t cover cars from foreign (meaning not Chinese) brands, but we’re going to do something different with this review. That’s because we had the opportunity to drive the Polestar 4, a car that’s expected to be their best-selling model, before anyone else.

Why so expensive?

Let’s start by talking about price, because despite the fact that the Polestar 4 is exclusively made in China, there’s a big difference between what it costs here, and what it costs abroad. Take the UK, for example, where a single motor Polestar 4 has a starting price of £60,000, with the dual motor starting at £67,000. Taking the 20% VAT and the 10% tariff on Chinese-made vehicles into account, the prices would be roughly £42,000 (single motor) and £46,900 (dual motor).

While the Polestar’s debut price here in China was equivalent to £33,000 and £41,000, it was dropped almost immediately after the car debuted, and is now equivalent to £26,300 and £37,300. That's a difference of about £15,700 and £9,600 vs the UK price. As far as I can tell, the models sold inside and outside of are essentially identical, utilizing the same motors, the same 86- and 100-kWh lithium-ion battery packs manufactured by CATL, and the same 400v charging architecture.

So, why does this price difference exist between China and the rest of the world? I understand that there are other factors, such as shipping and the fact that, unlike China, Europe isn't a unified market, so it costs more to market a vehicle. However, I don't think such factors can explain that big of a price difference, do you? I think the remaingin difference can be chocked up to competition. Put simply, China has competition when it comes to electric vehicles, and the rest of the world does not, or at least not at the same level.

In markets like the UK, the Polestar 4 competes with products from Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Tesla. Here in China, it competes with all of those, plus NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, Rising, Avatr, Voyah, IM, Zeekr, Hongqi, Xiaomi, JIDU, Aito, Hyper, Arcfox, Denza, and a dozen other brands that you’ve probably never even heard of.

That’s why Polestar and nearly every other manufacturer, including Chinese brands, feel they can price their vehicles higher in markets outside of China while still keeping their cars competitive.

No window, no big deal

The exterior design of this vehicle received a whole lot of attention, not for what it had, but for what it lacked. It is the first mainstream passenger vehicle to delete the rear window, or at least the first one outside of Asia. That’s because at least two different Chinese vehicles have already used this trick, the Avatr 12 and the HiPhi Z. Frankly, I don’t care who was first, because the rear end of the 4 looks fantastic.

As a matter of fact, the Polestar 4 looks fantastic from every angle. Whether you consider it a low-slung SUV or a lifted hatchback, it’s a striking design that wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi epic. The window-less rear might get all the attention, but the front-end lighting, said to be a twist on Volvo’s Norse hammer-inspired daytime running lights, is equally eye-catching.

Having no rear window allows them to ensure that the air going over the car stays attached to the body all the way to this little spoiler, meaning a lower drag coefficient and greater efficiency. It also has a couple of other benefits you might not have considered.

Take the rear cargo area, for example, which measures 526L, including a considerable amount of under-floor storage. According to regulations, however, manufacturers are only allowed to measure space up to the top of the seats, for the obvious reason that loading it any higher would block rearward visibility. The Polestar 4, which relies on a digital rear view mirror instead of a rear window, has no such issues, so you can load it up all the way to the top. There’s also a frunk for good measure, but it’s too small to carry anything more than your charging cables.

Another benefit of that rear window delete is that the crash structure of the roof could be moved farther back, allowing them to have that steeply sloped roofline while still providing acceptable levels of headroom. The overhead glass also extends past the crown of your head, meaning it doesn’t feel quite as dark back as you might expect.

As you could already tell from the outside, the designers of the Polestar 4 pushed the wheels to the very corners of the vehicle, which makes for a seriously impressive wheelbase of 2.999m on this 4.85-meter vehicle. That wheelbase is 2mm longer than a Range Rover.

Recycled, kind of...

Polestar, like Volvo, is committed to using recycled materials on their vehicles in order to lessen their impact on the environment. Unless you pay for the optional Nappa leather package, which replaces the base car’s cloth seats, and compliments the 12-speaker Harmon Kardon sound system with headrest mounted speakers for both driver and front passenger. It also adds cooling and massaging functions to the standard heated front row. The Nappa leather makes this feel more like a traditional luxury car, but I think the cloth seats have more character.

While we’re talking options, this also has an option package that includes body-color exterior trim, baby soft alcantara headliner, and amazing interior lighting that glows through the cloth door panel. What’s even better, is that the different colors for this ambient lighting correspond to different celestial bodies. The sun is a deep yellow, Earth is a pleasant blue, Mars is a beautiful red, and so on. These are accompanied by facts about each celestial body, such as its average temperature and the length of a day. When you adjust the brightness, the planet rotates, showing you the “day side” (brightness up) and the “night side” (brightness down).

While we’re talking about the 15.4-inch center screen, I should mention that the operating system for the Chinese market Polestar 4 is completely different from the global version, and I don’t just mean that this one is in Chinese. Whereas global versions use a Google OS, this one uses an OS developed by a Chinese phone company called Meizu, which Geely, majority owner of the Polestar brand, also owns a majority stake in. So, while the overall design language will be the same, there may be some differences.   

If someone ever tells you that the Chinese don’t know how to build nice things, tell them to sit inside a Polestar 4. Optional leather package or not, the fit and finish, material quality and design on these things is every bit as good as what you’ll find in their sister brand Volvo.

Polestar stil means handling

First and foremost, what’s it like to drive without a rear window? It’s weird, but not in the way you might expect. Cadillac has been doing this digital rear view mirror thing for years, so this is proven technology. The clarity and speed of the display is such that I quickly adapted. In fact, it provides a wider, less unobstructed view than any traditional rear view mirror. As an added bonus, when you hit the turn signal, the perspective shifts a little bit to give you a better view of what’s behind you in that direction.

But what I found myself missing the most wasn’t the ability to see out the window, but the ability of others to see me. Without that, I can’t gesture at the driver behind me, whether it’s a polite wave if they let me out, or something more aggressive...

The Polestar comes with either an 86- or 100-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. WLTP range estimates for the smaller pack haven’t been released, but Polestar says that a single-motor model paired to the 100-kWh pack will achieve a claimed range of 610 km, while a dual motor with the same pack will manage 560 km. EPA range estimates for those powertrains are 300 miles and 270 miles, respectively. Both packs are said to be able to charge from 5-80% in 32 minutes.

Our test car wasn’t some economy class single motor, it was a dual motor making 400 kW, or double the power of the single motor version. The 0-100 km/h or 62 mph time is also about half of the single motor’s at just 3.8 seconds. But outright speed isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think about Polestar, instead I think about handling.   That’s because the Polestar 2 sedan, while not the fastest EV, is one of the best handling electric vehicles that I’ve ever driven. The Polestar 4 should essentially be a Polestar 2 on stilts, but is it?

Short answer is, yes. For starters, it’s got the same satisfying power delivery as the Polestar 2, meaning it’s quick off the line, but builds to peak torque in a way that feels easier to modulate than some other fast EVs, which break your neck leaving every stoplight. The brake pedal feels firm and the brakes themselves are good, not surprising since this has the optional high-performance package, which includes four-piston Brembo calipers up front and larger brake discs front and rear. It also includes the 22-inch forged wheels, a sportier suspension tune, and the snazzy “Swedish Gold” seatbelts.

The double wishbone front and multilink rear suspension have adjustable stiffness, with comfort mode being quite compliant and sport mode allowing you to feel nearly every bump in the road. Credit that to those massive 22-inch wheels, though I’m assuming the performance suspension tuning is also to blame. I’d go so far as to recommend you avoid the high-performance package, but that would mean forgoing the gold seatbelts, so it’s still a must buy.

The trade-off for the sometimes-jittery ride is that the 4 feels light on its feet. Just like the Polestar 2, steering feel is still video gamey, but accurate, and grip levels are good from the Pirelli P Zero tires. It’s impressive enough that I’ll be interested to see how it compares to the Macan EV.

I was actually surprised to learn that the Polestar 4 drove this well, because unlike the suspension of the Polestar 2, which was developed by the brand’s European team, development of the Polestar 4’s suspension was led by the Chinese team. Apparently that’s true for both the domestic and international versions, so don’t go telling me that this doesn’t apply to the Polestar 4 that you get abroad.

Don’t get me wrong, there are countless talented Chinese engineers in every discipline of automotive research, development and manufacturing, but suspension tuning has always been a weak point for local brands. The fact that a Chinese-based team was able to produce something like this gives me a lot of hope for what they can do in the future.

OTA update ASAP

Polestar made quite a big deal about the 4 being the world’s first production vehicle with the MobileEye Chauffeur driver assistance system and it having a lidar unit from Luminar. I guess they meant it would have one eventually, because the Polestar 4 for the Chinese market currently doesn’t offer lidar on any trim. Lidar is a big deal in other markets, but it’s been available on a variety of cars in China for years now, so I can’t imagine the global version having it before us.

Since the 4 is debuting so much later in other markets it’s possible that it will have lidar when it arrives. My guess, however, is that they learned their lesson from Volvo’s EX90, which had to delay its launch from late-2023 to mid-2024 due to issues with its lidar software. Polestar probably decided that it was better to launch a car without lidar, than no car at all.

That more advanced system can’t come fast enough, because the driver assistance on this car is among the worst I’ve ever used. It can’t even stay in the middle of the lane on the highway. Instead, it just ping-pongs from left to right to left to right. I guess I’m not surprised then that its auto lane changes are slow and jerky as well. It’s 2024, so all it takes is an OTA upgrade to put all of these issues in the past, but right now, it is less than impressive.

One final complaint, the dead pedal in this car is not very useful. I have an average bordering on small shoe size, and I can’t place it comfortably on this thing. I either have to cock it to the side, or simply ignore its existence. I imagine this the result of trying to push the cabin space as far out as possible. Big booted buyers beware!

Takeaway

Deliveries for the Polestar 4 in Europe and Australia will begin in August of this year. The debut might be even later in the US should Polestar choose to delay deliveries till they can start producing cars in their South Korean factory, said to ramping up in the second half of 2025. When it finally does reach those markets, it may very well be a competitive addition to that market. As for China, it faces an incredibly uphill battle to convince consumers that it’s worthy of its asking price, great handling or not.

Specifications
Polestar 4 Dual Motor Plus
Motor: Front + Rear-mounted
Power: 400 kW, 686 Nm (540 hp/508 lb-ft)
Battery: 100-kWh
Range: 560 km WLTP
0-100 km/h: 3.8 seconds
Size: 4845*1994*1544
Wheelbase: 2999 mm
CDM Price as tested: 66,300 USD