Cheaper Polestar 3 With Rear-Wheel Drive Coming This Year

Polestar officials have confirmed that a more affordable version of the Polestar 3, the brand’s luxury SUV, will be revealed later this year. Speaking to Australia’s Drive, Brent Ellis, Global Head of Product Communications for the automaker, said, “Later this year, the single-motor version of the Polestar 3 will be available. It will be rear-wheel drive, and we will have more details a few months from now when the time comes to launch.”

Ellis stopped short of providing performance and pricing details, but Polestar 3 product manager Andreas Andreen said the 3 RWD will be equipped with the same rear-mounted electric motor as the Long Range Dual Motor AWD variant. That could suggest an output of 241 horsepower. That’s not a lot of power for an SUV that weighs around 5,700 lbs, so maybe Polestar will use the 268-hp setup found in the new Polestar 4.

Increased Range Is A Possibility

The rear-wheel drive Polestar 3 will retain the 111 kWh battery used in the AWD model. In the Long Range Dual Motor version, the estimated range is 315 miles, which is reasonable. The more powerful Performance Pack version manages 279 miles on a single charge. It is safe to assume the Polestar 3 RWD will have a more impressive figure. As a reminder, the single-motor Polestar 4 (with a smaller 102 kWh battery) has a range of around 300 miles.

There’s no word on what it will cost, but the Polestar 3 RWD could be a luxury bargain if the automaker gets pricing right. As a reminder, the Swedish marque recently reduced US pricing by over $10k, with the current entry-level trim now retailing for $73,400. That means the single-motor RWD version would likely be less than $70,000. If Polestar could get pricing closer to the $65,000 mark, it would undercut the cheapest BMW iX by more than $20,000 and the most affordable Mercedes EQE SUV by $13,000.

No Polestar 3 Seven-Seater In The Pipeline

Those hoping for a more practical seating configuration are going to be disappointed. Ellis confirmed that the Polestar 3 is a five-seater only: “There’s not going to be a seven-seater at any point.” This opens up the possibility for a larger Polestar SUV that could rival the Mercedes EQS SUV, Tesla Model X, and the Rivian R1S.

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Originally destined to enter production in August 2023, the Polestar 3 suffered several manufacturing setbacks. The first examples started rolling off the assembly line in China in late February, with US production scheduled to kick off later this year. The American market Polestar 3 will be built at the brand’s South Carolina facility alongside the Volvo EX90. Expect the Polestar 3 RWD to be revealed before the end of 2024.