CarBrandLogos archive · Polestar · 2020

PolestarPolestar 2

The first fully electric Polestar, and the first car running Google in the dashboard.

Photo: © M 93 · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

The story

A defining chapter in Polestar history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Polestar 2, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Where the Polestar 1 was a limited-run hybrid halo, the 2 was the real business: a battery-electric five-door liftback launched in 2020 and pitched directly at the Tesla Model 3, in a class Polestar describes as subcompact executive.

Polestar 2 Genf 2019 1Y7A5078 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

Design and engineering

It was built on Volvo's compact modular architecture, which had been designed for combustion cars and adapted here, leaving the 2 with a raised floor and a high seating position that divided opinion. What did not divide opinion was the interior software. Polestar and Volvo worked with Google to make it the first production car running Android Automotive natively, meaning Google Maps, Assistant and the Play Store operate as the car's own system rather than being mirrored from a phone. Most of the industry has since followed.

Polestar 2 – h · © M 93 · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

In production

A substantial 2023 revision replaced the entry model's front-wheel-drive layout with a more powerful rear-drive one, improving both range and handling in a single move. The car remains in production and has been the volume backbone of the brand.

Polestar Polestar 2 · Calreyn88 · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance