Polestar 3 delayed until mid-2024

Polestar Australia has confirmed its incoming luxury battery-electric family SUV, the 2024 Polestar 3, will not reach local showrooms until at least the middle of next year, due to production delays in Europe.

Polestar’s second model in Australia, the Polestar 3 follows the rollout of the Polestar 2 from 2021 and looms as the Swedish brand’s new flagship with a two-model line-up priced from $132,900 plus on-road costs.

The Polestar 3 shares its underpinnings and most mechanicals with the Volvo EX90, which remains slated for Oz in late 2024.

In May, Volvo confirmed the EX90 “needs additional time in software development and testing” to ensure the user experience is up to standard “from day one”.

The Volvo delay coincided with Polestar issuing a global release at the time: “Polestar was recently informed that additional time for final software development of the new all-electric platform shared by Volvo Cars is needed and that the start of production of Polestar 3 is now expected in the first quarter of 2024.”

Speaking at the unveiling of a right-hand drive pre-production Polestar 3 in Sydney today, Polestar Australia spokesperson Laurissa Mirabelli said the Polestar 3 had been pushed back to mid-2024.

“Timing is now mid-year 2024 for the Polestar 3,” she said.

“What we initially said was quarter one of 2024, and the delay pushed timing out to quarter two of 2024. We can now confirm deliveries will commence from June.”

The announcement comes as Polestar undertakes a roadshow with three separate Polestar 3 EVs around the country from this week.

Pre-production cars will be ferried around dealerships in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and later Perth over the coming weeks, together with a vehicle at this week’s carsales Melbourne EV Show.

Mirabelli said prospective Polestar 3 buyers were so far undeterred by the production delay.

“We’ve had a lot of customers express their interest in Polestar 3, and that has remained high. This current roadshow will help to cement that interest,” she said.

“Australians are used to waiting for cars to arrive in market, so we haven’t really seen a drop-off due to the three-month delay.”

Before the arrival of the production Polestar 3, the Swedish brand will reportedly undertake an extensive ride and handling program for Australian roads – due in part to feedback the Polestar 2’s original suspension wasn’t suited to local conditions.

This week, Mirabelli was non-committal on when the program would commence.

“That program is still TBC,” she said.

Unlike the seven-seat Volvo EX90, the 4900mm-long Polestar 3 will offer only five seats.

Also giving it a high-performance bent are muscular 380kW/910Nm outputs for the flagship version, which is claimed to hit 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds, and a handy 360kW/840Nm for the standard model.

Both variants are powered by a big CATL-sourced 111kWh lithium-ion battery pack – feeding a pair of electric motors – yielding a WLTP-verified driving range of up to 610km.

The 2024 Polestar 3 will be quickly followed on sale by the Polestar 4 medium SUV, the 2025 Polestar 5 grand tourer and the 2026 Polestar 6 roadster.

It is understood timing for those other models remains unchanged.

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