Designed as a fully electric four-door Grand Tourer, Polestar says the Precept is a vision of the company’s future vehicle aspirations, with sustainable materials and advanced human-interface technology taking centre stage.
Polestar’s third model will be an electric SUV known as the Polestar 3 and will share the all-new SPA2 platform with the next Volvo XC90.
While advancing the use of new materials in its construction, the Precept concept – which was due to be unveiled at the cancelled Geneva International Motor Show – furthers the slimline design ethos that the Polestar performance brand has already established with its Polestar 1 and Polestar 2 models.
Those cars, using platforms donated by part-owner Volvo, have already seen the light of day and are set for immediate production programs in Europe once factories get back up to speed post-Covid-19.
While the Precept is a concept car only, aspects of its engineering will be evident when the third Polestar model – the aptly-named Polestar 3 – eventually arrives on the market in 2022.
The ‘Precept’ name was chosen by Polestar to emphasise the vehicle’s role in setting out the former Volvo performance sub-brand’s intent as a contemporary electric brand: a manifesto of things to come; a declaration.
The car signifies an important milestone for Polestar as a standalone brand. The sculpted form of the Precept sets the tone for future Polestar vehicles; a style which has already been labelled “minimalistic athleticism”. The luxury concept’s 3.1-metre wheelbase gives the four-door grand tourer a low, sleek silhouette with an emphasis on leg- and headroom in the rear. The same silhouette is also evident on the Polestar 1 and 2 models.
On the concept, the front grille is replaced by the ‘Polestar SmartZone’, representing a shift from breathing to seeing. Once used to channel air to radiators and the internal combustion engine, the car’s nose now houses technology for safety sensors and driver assistance functions.
Purposefully gathered behind a transparent panel dedicated to intelligent hardware, the ‘Polestar SmartZone’ incorporates two radar sensors and a high definition camera. Meanwhile, a LIDAR pod, mounted atop the glass roof sees optimal visibility as a next step towards increased driving assistance. The ‘Thor’s Hammer’ LED headlight signature – a hold-over from Volvo’s contemporary exterior design ethos – evolves further at the front of the Precept, with separated elements to take on what the brand suggests is a more ‘robotic’ interpretation.
The Precept features an integrated front wing above the SmartZone which accelerates air flow over the long bonnet. This allows air to attach itself to the surface earlier, improving aerodynamic efficiency and thus improving the vehicle’s range.
Conventional side mirrors are replaced by camera units, while inside the cabin the traditional rear-view mirror is replaced with a digital screen, the image collected by a wide-angle camera mounted at the rear of the car. The absence of a conventional rear window means that the Precept’s single-volume glass roof extends behind the rear seats and the tailgate itself is designed with a larger opening and higher-mounted hinges improving access.
Polestar says the Precept’s luxury interior is defined by sustainability and offered the company’s designers an opportunity to work with new materials and processes.
The car features flax-based composites for interior panels and seatbacks which offer significant improvements over conventional materials. The concept’s seat surfaces are 3D-knitted from recycled PET bottles, bolsters and headrests are made from recycled cork vinyl, while carpets are made from reclaimed fishing nets.
The Precept’s next generation Human Machine Interface (HMI), which is powered by Android, builds on Polestar’s close collaboration with Google. An enlarged, portrait-oriented 15-inch centre touch screen complements a 12.5-inch driver display, and the two are linked by an illuminated blade that encompasses the entire interior.
While the Precept remains a future-focused concept, another model just over the horizon offers a more tangible taste of what is to come in the Polestar performance EV line-up.
The Polestar 3 electric SUV is soon to be unveiled (in pre-production form at least), ahead of its projected on-sale date of 2022.
The Polestar 3 will rival similar battery-electric SUVs from Audi (e-tron) and Jaguar (I-Pace). It will utilise the same architecture as the next Volvo XC90 SUV; a platform known as Scalable Product Architecture 2 (SPA2). The same basic engineering will underpin the next generation of cars from both Volvo and Polestar, along with models from Chinese company Geely, which also owns stakes in both brands.
While no official images of the Polestar 3 are currently available, several computer renders are circulating, which suggest the performance EV brand’s styling cues will move further away from its former parent, Volvo.
While the sleek Polestar 1 and Polestar 2 draw obvious exterior comparisons with models such as the Volvo S90, the Polestar 3 will move towards the styling cues exhibited on the Precept concept, ensuring Polestar develops a signature look and feel all of its own in the years ahead.
A timeline for the arrival of the Polestar brand in New Zealand is still currently being discussed.
