New Polestar 4: first look at electric Porsche Macan rival

The all-new Polestar 4 is due to be revealed later this year, and now our spy photographers captured the first images of the hotly-anticipated electric coupe-SUV testing on European roads.

The pictures confirm the Swedish brand’s aptly named fourth model will ride slightly higher than the more saloon-like Polestar 2, while remaining lower than the boxier Polestar 3 SUV. It appears it’ll also have a more coupe-style roofline than the 3, and be more compact, too. 

We can pick out some typical Polestar design cues from the images, including flush door handles, frameless door mirrors and wide rear wheelarches, which give the car a muscular stance. We expect the camouflage is also hiding a full-width rear lightbar and the brand’s signature ‘Thor’s Hammer’ headlight design.

However, the front end appears to be much more rounded than on the Polestar 2 or Polestar 3, though the flat rear end is similar to its smaller sibling. The Polestar 4 is noticeably taller and has almost no obvious bootlid, however. We expect more images will surface over the coming months, ahead of the Polestar 4’s debut later this year. Customer cars are likely to arrive in 2024.

The Polestar 4 will closely rival the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6 and electric Porsche Macan also due next year. A couple of years ago, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said a price point of €45,000 (£40,000) would be achievable for the Polestar 4, but with prices rising across the market, we now expect it to start from closer to £50,000 – better positioning it between the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3.

At the same time, Ingenlath spoke about the Polestar 4’s design: “this car is slightly smaller, but we do not compromise much on the interior length. But this car is slightly more ground hugging, a bit more on the coupe type of roofline, and really brings the greatness of the brand into that segment price point wise.

“Aerodynamics will play a much higher role in design and the designs we are doing, but generally I think the electric age will bring designs much more respectful of aerodynamics. The combination of sitting in a very sporty cabin but that much higher off the ground, you get that feeling of being elevated. I think that concept will be a very interesting one for a future SUV.”

Technical details are thin on the ground at the moment, but the Polestar 4 is expected to use a platform called PMA. As DrivingElectric understands, these underpinnings evolved into the SEA platform that’s being used for EVs from various brands owned by Polestar’s parent company Geely, including Volvo, Smart and Zeekr.

If this is the case, the Polestar 4 will be the first Polestar to be based on this architecture, as the Polestar 3 SUV sits on the larger SPA2 platform also used by the seven-seat Volvo EX90. The forthcoming Polestar 5 flagship GT and Polestar 6 convertible on the other hand will use a bespoke bonded aluminium platform that’s being developed in the UK.

With the recently facelifted Polestar 2 capable of covering between 322 and 395 miles on a charge, we expect the Polestar 4 to at least match that, with a range of more than 400 miles possible for the most efficient versions. It’s likely the electric coupe-SUV will be offered with a choice of rear and all-wheel drive, too, much like the Polestar 2.

The Polestar 4 will also be a key part of the brand’s goals of 290,000 new sales globally by 2025, with Ingenlath previously stating: “we don’t want to make the Polestar brand a brand that is not affordable for a big, big part of the population.”