Formula 2030 concept previews next Polestar 2, due in NZ late 2027
Words: Richard Edwards
The next-generation Polestar 2 is expected to reach New Zealand around September or October 2027.
Polestar has confirmed that some design elements of its Formula 2030 concept, which made its global debut on Polestar’s international media drive for the Polestar 4 SUV, will appear on the new Polestar 2 and the Polestar 7 compact SUV. They include the concept’s headlights and tail lights.
Timing and specs
At the Polestar 4 SUV launch, Bruce Fowler, who has just handed over the running of Polestar in New Zealand, said the new Polestar 2 is expected to launch globally at the end of the first quarter of 2027 or early in the second. He says New Zealand will get cars as quickly as other markets, if not sooner.
Final specifications are not confirmed, but Fowler expects at least an 800V architecture, up from 400V in the current car, and a top version of around 500kW. He says it will be priced between the Tesla Model 3 and BMW’s new i3 electric sedan.
About 190,000 examples of the current Polestar 2 have been sold globally, and just under 2,000 in New Zealand.
“We’ve got a lot of owners whose cars are coming up to five years old and they haven’t changed. This is going to be an opportunity for that installed customer base to move up to something that will be the right product at the right price,” says Fowler.
What the concept shows
The Formula 2030 is a four-door, four-seat car 4680mm long, 2021mm wide and 1350mm tall, which makes it lower than the Polestar 5. Polestar says it sits between the coming Polestar 2 and Polestar 7 in size.
Its Dual Blade headlights preview the face of the next Polestar 2. At the rear, the full-width light bar used on current Polestars is replaced by Single Blade tail lights, which Polestar says will reach production.
Inside, a 20-inch curved driver display is mounted to the steering column, with a 12.2-inch centre screen set into the centre tunnel. Below it are eight physical controls that can be set up as rocker switches or rotary dials and programmed for different functions.
“As a performance brand, we see a renewed focus on the driver, and so we re-balance the digital and physical. We introduce physical buttons and controls,” says Polestar head of interior design Juan Pablo Bernal.
Polestar 7 a year later
The Polestar 7 follows the Polestar 2 by a year. Fowler describes it as a C-segment SUV, larger than the Volvo EX30 and smaller than the EX60, around the size of the EX40. Polestar plans to build it in Europe.
“The focus of this car again is to make it the best performing, best driving compact SUV, bar none,” says Fowler.
