► Polestar chief commits to car numbers
► Current badges to continue in future
► Even though digits now out of sequence
The new boss of Polestar is sticking with the Swedes’ mildly illogical numbering system and ruled out any switch to names or new nomenclature.
It all started out so logically: the brand’s first model was the Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid and it was followed by the company’s first all-electric car, the Polestar 2. Everything made sense when the next duo were the 3 and 4 crossovers, which have arrived in the past 12 months. So far, so good.
Chief executive officer Michael Lohscheller has confirmed we will see the sporty new Polestar 5 high-performance coupe in ‘the second half of 2025,’ but one of his first product changes has been to delay the Polestar 6 in favour of the Polestar 7 – a new compact electric SUV designed to compete with the likes of the Tesla Model Y.
‘The Polestar 7 will come first,’ he told CAR. ‘I can’t confirm a date to you because we are working through the details. We have partners, we have a factory, all that needs to be decided. So the sequence will be – and I don’t love this – Polestar 5 this year, then comes the Polestar 7, and then the Polestar 6 follows.’
So Polestar’s numbering system has fallen out of kilter?
Yes, essentially. The badging system was designed to follow the launch pattern, and that’s now been derailed by the 7 coming out before the 6. Lohscheller refuses to speculate on when the 6 will launch, suggesting it might have a much longer wait until later this decade.
Who cares about numbers? you may well ask – and you’re probably right. But to the casual observer, it means that Polestar’s range hierarchy is somewhat confusing. The numbers follow neither launch sequence nor product hierarchy, in the way that rational Audi or BMW usually manage with their logical badges.
‘In terms of the sequence, okay yes: 5, 7, 6… I give you that point,’ the CEO (above) concedes. ‘So you can write about that and so on. But otherwise, I think our naming system is perfect. I love how Polestar does it. It’s a new brand. I want everyone to know the brand.
‘Sometimes you have names of cars which are more famous than the brand name itself. I don’t know, some people say Astra is more famous than Opel, right? So always having Polestar and then the numbering, I think it’s perfect. It couldn’t be better.’
What about next-gen cars? Will the Polestar numbers keep rising?
Lohscheller confirmed that the Polestar badging system will stick with today’s numbers, and not keep rising sequentially. ‘The Polestar 2 is here to stay,’ he revealed. ‘And then at some stage we will announce a successor. The Polestar 2 successor is not the 7. There will be a Polestar 2 successor and it will be called 2.’
When asked if Polestar numbers would keep spiralling upwards, the new boss pledged that would not happen and said the range numbers would remain in single digits.
‘I think the way it is at the moment is really good,’ he said. ‘So now we have a new addition, the compact SUV – we didn’t have that in the portfolio, so we call it the Polestar 7. But all cars coming afterwards, I would say we have the names already. So the next Polestar 2 will not be the Polestar 8. It will be the Polestar 2.’