GOOD Genuinely good fun to drive if you have the space Very roomy and nicely finished interior Slightly less expensive than rivals from BMW and Mercedes
BAD Not quite as cosseting as rivals Interior shares a lot of parts and design features with its Volvo EX90 sibling We’ve yet to try a finished version of the multimedia and driver assistance features
I think the big challenge with Polestar’s product strategy is that they are pushing upmarket into a very well saturated space. P3 may be genuinely good, but it’s arriving in the wrong market at the wrong time.
Automakers need to figure out how to go DOWN market to pick up more sales (at least in the US).
In Europe it’s the opposite, China is about to flood us with cheap EVs that we simply can’t compete with on cost. The only way European carmakers can stay afloat is by going upmarket. This is partly why VW is struggling now.
VW needs to get the short van down to $40K and import it to the States so I can buy one. There’s a middle market they just can’t reach. I’m not paying $60K for an 8000lb van lol.
The biggest challenge is that they have built their customer base on a lower-market car than their public-facing intentions suggest.
The Polestar 3 is positioned just fine, they want to be like Porsche and it’s right in line in terms of size, dynamics, and positioning as a lower-spec Cayenne compared to the Volvo EX90’s more stoic “Audi Q7 feel”. But when your primary seller, the Polestar 2, is positioned to compete with lower-market cars like the Tesla Model 3, it dilutes that brand you desperately want to move upmarket.
Volvo handing off their S40 design to Polestar to use for the 2 was both a blessing and a curse for them.
I suspect Geely is okay with Volvo and Polestar’s Audi > Porsche type relationship because they know that, some day, they’ll be able to get the Geely brand or Zeekr into the North American market to capture that lower-market segment.
Personally, I think that Volvo should have tried to be Porsche; the ones I see most around here at the XC60s and 90s, which seem more naturally higher market than creating a completely new brand
Let Polestar be a BMW fighter and let Volvo move upmarket. Makes more sense than creating a brand new one
idk
Downmarket profit rates are fickle and small, that’s why everyone is going for the more expensive models right now. But this is about to change, not only in China. Dacia and Citroen already introduced cheaper cars, more will come. Which US buyers may not get if they’re not officially imported.