Polestar 4 2023 Reveal: No Rear Window Leave a comment

Polestar is a design-driven, pure-electric model, so the arrival of the Polestar 4 isn’t any shock (particularly, coming because it does, after Polestars 1, 2, and three). However what’s thought-provoking is that this savvy model of lateral thinkers and elegance professionals needs to rescue one of many extra egregious automotive niches—the SUV coupé.

It helps that the corporate’s CEO, Thomas Ingenlath, was a designer in a former life. “Somewhat than merely modifying an present SUV, giving it a sooner roofline, and in consequence compromising components like rear headroom and luxury, we’ve got designed Polestar 4 from the bottom up as a brand new breed of SUV coupé that celebrates rear occupant consolation,” he claims.

So whereas essentially the most highly effective dual-motor Polestar 4 runs a 102-kWh battery for a claimed vary of 350 miles (WLTP), and is essentially the most high-performance Polestar to this point, all eyes are understandably on the automotive’s design—and the rear finish particularly. Why? As a result of Polestar has removed the standard rear window totally.

These in Glass Homes

It’s an thought the corporate explored with its attractive 2020 Precept idea automotive, however right here it’s for actual. On condition that the form of a automotive’s “glasshouse,” as designers confer with it, is core to how we learn a car, eliminating one main part of it’s a punchy assertion.

Polestar has executed it by embracing the capabilities of the high-definition display that replaces the age-old rear-view mirror. This shows a real-time feed from a roof-mounted rear digicam, and delivers a wider visual view. These aren’t new—Vary Rover has been utilizing its ClearSight camera mirror for years—however Polestar is the primary to max out on the design potential.

The rationale? In elongating the Polestar 4’s silhouette, the automotive’s aerodynamic properties have additionally been optimized, a key a part of an EV’s range-extending armory. The 4 has an impressively slippery 0.26 drag coefficient. Nevertheless it additionally permits a reimagining of the automotive’s rear compartment.

“Previously, we’ve at all times had to offer a gap on the rear for a bodily mirror,” Polestar’s head of design, Maximilian Missoni, tells WIRED. “Digicam tech now could be very excessive decision, it really works nicely at evening time, and the software program is consistently being upgraded so we are able to add worth into the system over time. We may take away the rear window and transfer the entire construction additional again. It creates a cocoon.”