More Polestar ‘Beast’ models possible

Audi has RS cars, BMW has M cars, Mercedes-Benz has AMG cars and Polestar has BST – which could get the jump on its rivals when it comes to high-performance electric cars.

As the Chinese-owned Swedish EV brand finally begins to roll out its second and third models in the coming months (the Polestar 3 large SUV and Polestar 4 mid-size SUV), the self-styled ‘electric performance’ brand isn’t ruling out more ‘Beast’ – BST for short – models.

The 2022 Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 got a power bump and new Ohlins two-way adjustable dampers, plus stiffer springs, a new front strut bar, 25mm lower ride height and more, and was followed by the BST Edition 230 models in 2023.

And it’s widely expected that the upcoming Polestar 4, which arrives in Australia in August, will spawn a number of special-editions – potentially BST versions.

Given the curiously rear-windowless Polestar 4 will be the Scandinavian brand’s fastest production model to date, with dual-motor flagship variants belting out 400kW/686Nm and ripping to 100km/h in a claimed 3.8 seconds, it would be a prime candidate for the Beast treatment.

Asked if it was considering expanding the BST high-performance sub-brand, Polestar’s global head of product communications, Brent Ellis, told carsales: “We have no rulebook. So we can decide what we’re going to do.”

He cautioned that future BST vehicles were “not necessarily cast in stone…” but his optimistic tone suggests the company is seriously considering it.

“If you look at what we did with Polestar 2, where we had these limited-edition BST versions – that unfortunately never made it down to Australia – they just amped it up a little bit and took performance a little bit further.”

Ellis observed that Aussies have long had a passion for high-performance vehicles, with sales of BMW M and Mercedes-AMG cars often putting Australia in the top five global markets in terms of popularity.

“You’ve got the heritage of HSV and FPV on the Fords, so we know that Aussies love their performance cars,” he said.

“Whether there’s BST versions in the future, who knows? But we are we are open to ideas, so when someone comes to work on a Monday and says ‘hang on, I think we should try this’ then we try it.”

The upcoming Polestar 3 flagship SUV is equipped with a Borg Warner-developed dual-clutch torque-vectoring half-shaft system designed to generate oversteer – not unlike the ‘twinster’ system used by the legendary Ford Focus RS – and is evidence the brand is keen to experiment with novel engineering solutions.

Polestar is already targeting the Porsche Taycan with its hard-core 650kW/900Nm electric grand tourer, the Polestar 5, which will be another prime candidate for the Polestar skunkworks team when it arrives in 2025, and Ellis agreed there was scope to push standard models into a higher-performance category.

He said that Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath’s company car was “kind of bastardised” by the company’s design and engineering departments to test new colour or suspension systems.

“So back in 2021, they did some stuff with his car, put suspension and wheels and brakes from a Polestar 1 and created this hot, tauter version of Polestar 2 and that ended up being a [BST] production car.

“Thomas likes that. He wants us to push. He’s not a naysayer.”

Watch this space.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au