Electric cars still aren’t cheap. Even something relatively humble like a new will put you out some $30,000. Because of battery costs, and the desire for high margins, it makes sense that a lot of automakers are leading with more expensive, luxury-oriented EVs. Volvo’s effort is the Polestar brand, launching with the lifted sedan-coupe-thing called the Polestar 2, and it won’t be cheap at first.
Polestar today announced European pricing for the Polestar 2 (I suppose I could just call it the “2,” but that feels awkward.) Here’s what they’ll be at the outset:
Norway NOK 469,000
Sweden SEK 659,000
Germany EUR 58,800
United Kingdom GBP 49,900
The Netherlands EUR 59,800
Belgium EUR 59,800
It’s never apples-to-apples to convert foreign car prices to U.S. dollars since they’re not always equivalent and various features can differ, but that’s about $65,000 here. And Polestar says the “guide pricing” for North America, which I’m guessing is their own good estimate, is still $63,000.
That’s still more expensive than, say, a Tesla Model 3, which despite averages around $59,000, according to .
Polestar has been pretty clear that the car would launch with a more expensive version at first. said the car will be around 39,000 euros (roughly $45,000) at the cheapest, but not until the second year of production. The launch edition is around $60,000, as we see up top.
But that comes pretty well-equipped with the 78 kWh battery pack, 400 horsepower output, Pilot Assist semi-autonomous system, panoramic roof, world-first Android Automotive OS, Harmon Kardon sound system, and three years free routine maintenance and service. Range is said to be around 275 miles.
It’s a handsome car with impressive specs, for sure, but we’ll see if Polestar can really deliver on the cheaper eventual model. We’ve been . For now, and despite that, the Model 3 is still the car to beat in this segment.