Six-month wait for Polestar 2 deliveries

Australian buyers of the Polestar 2 will have to wait until at least May next year before taking delivery of their all-new electric car if they plan on configuring certain colours and options.

Polestar Australia managing director Samantha Johnson confirmed the ordering and sales process for the Volvo-owned car-maker’s first Australian product, the 2022 Polestar 2, during a briefing with journalists last week.

Pre-orders (deposits) for the three-model Polestar 2 range are set to open later this year, with the first vehicles to be delivered in February 2022 in a fully online sales process, according to Johnson.

However, those initial deliveries will only apply to “preconfigured” vehicles – that is, vehicles of a certain colour or specification.

“You’ll be able to fully book into a Polestar 2 from January and handover for those preconfigured cars will be available from February,” Johnston confirmed to carsales.

“What we’ve done with our cars is to make sure there is stock of preconfigured cars to allow people to get some cars up front – but if you configure it yourself then it will be from May next onwards.

“It depends if it’s preconfigured or a consumer-configured vehicle.”

Polestar 2 international review

Unsurprisingly, Johnson wouldn’t be drawn on annual sales volumes, but is confident Polestar can amply address Australian demand.

“We’re confident that we have the volumes we need for what we have planned for the Australian market,” she said.

The Australian Polestar boss once again defended the decision not to offer certain safety systems standard in the new Polestar 2, in a move that continues to attract industry criticism.

The fledging Tesla Model 3 rival will hit Aussie roads without the standard fitment of systems including blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and adaptive cruise control, among other items.

Those systems are part of an optional $5000 Pilot Pack that can be added to the purchase price of the Polestar 2 range, which starts at $59,900 plus on-road costs in entry form and climbs as high as $69,900 plus ORCs for the flagship Polestar 2 Long-Range Dual-Motor.

The rivalling Tesla Model 3 is equipped standard with blind spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control, but is unavailable with rear cross traffic alert.

Polestar Australia representatives say they will not be reviewing their decision to omit those safety items from the Polestar 2, citing a global remit to separate the Pilot Pack as an optional extra.

“There is a lot of safety in the vehicle as it stands, and some of the additional features that top up that safety – some people want that and some people don’t use that,” said Johnson.

“They want to drive the car themselves, they want to look around, they don’t want some of those features.

“What we do is we’re giving people the choice. We’re saying, ‘This EV is accessible to you’ and it has a plethora of safety systems.”

The Polestar 2 carries a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, with range-wide standard safety features including eight airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with vehicle, pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping with road edge detection, reversing camera and front/rear parking sensors.

The $5000 Pilot Pack adds Pixel LED headlights with LED front fog lights, adaptive cruise control, Pilot Assist 360-degree surround view camera, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with steering support, cross traffic alert with brake support, and rear collision warning.

The $6000 Plus Pack adds heating for the front and rear seats, steering wheel and even the windscreen wipers, a full-length panoramic glass roof, premium 13-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, WeaveTech ‘vegan’ interior trim, Black Ash deco panels, fully-electric front seats with memory and a new heat pump-based climate-control system.

Johnson said it was unfair to compare the Polestar’s safety omissions with a $30,000 Toyota Yaris that gets those missing items as standard.

“At the moment we’re giving consumers the choice – yes they can have that in if they want,” she said.

“Even if you add the Pilot Pack to the standard range Polestar 2, they’re still within the subsidy [threshold] for Victoria and New South Wales. We have made that available.”