Polestar takes on Tesla with 350kW Goodwood ‘Experiment’

Polestar has marked itself out as a competitor for Tesla’s sportier efforts, and the Model 3 Performance in particular, by sending an experimental, 350kW Experimental Polestar 2 to the holy grail of fast, the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Previously the performance skunkworks of Volvo, Polestar is now an all-electric brand and, while we already knew its cars were good to look at, it sounds like they’re going to be exciting to drive too. 

The Polestar 2, which is already on sale in some countries (yours for less than $70K in Canadian dollars, which aren’t much different from ours in value) and should lob here later in 2021 – with the brand recently launching in Australia and signalling its intention to take us seriously as a market for EVs – is a four-door crossover SUV offering that makes 300kW and 660Nm and zips to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds. 

We don’t know yet just how fast the Experimental version is but it should obviously be significantly quicker – it has go-faster stripes for a start – and the company has prepared the rest of the car for the assault.

The Experimental Polestar 2, which will appear this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where an assortment of cars are fanged and thrashed for the entertainment of the public in the UK, has 21-inch rims, six-piston front brakes, special Pirelli tyres, and sits 30mm lower than the standard Polestar 2, on a 20mm-wider track.

The suspension is also significantly more hard core, with the springs stiffened by 80 per cent at the front and 40 per cent at the rear. 

Clearly the people at Polestar still have the mindset of a tuning house and are keen to see just how much they can make out of a Polestar 2, before moving on to the company’s next project, the Polestar 3 SUV.

Sadly, it seems there’s little chance of this performance version making it to Australia, however, with the company’s local spokeswoman, Laurissa Mirabelli, pointing out that: “it is simply an ‘experimental’ Polestar 2” and there were no plans for production.

Which is a shame.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath has basically admitted the Experimental vehicle is basically a chance for his company to show off, or flex its muscles.

“I challenged the design and engineering teams to play with Polestar 2 and come up with something that makes a strong statement for Goodwood,” says Ingenlath.

“For a few months I have enjoyed driving another experimental Polestar 2, nicknamed ‘Beast’, around our Gothenburg campus, which inspired the team to come up with this version for Goodwood. 

“We want to flex our muscles and explore opportunities.”