Take Five! New Polestar 5 flagship snapped testing in Australia months before its global launch

July 2, 2025August 8, 2025 Bruce Newton 12668 Views polestar 5

The most ambitious model yet from the emerging luxury electric brand Polestar has been caught testing in Australia.

The sleek Polestar 5 sedan is still months away from its September global reveal at the Munich IAA and perhaps as many as 12 months away from going on-sale in Australia.

But an example of the high-performance Porsche Taycan fighter has been in Australia for a couple of months undergoing development.

The program, the most comprehensive ever conducted by Polestar in Australia on an upcoming model, is now nearing its end.

This right-hand drive example has popped up several times before on social media in that time as it has completed hot weather testing, had its advanced ADAS calibrated and chassis assessed in local conditions.

It has been seen in Adelaide, has also been to central Australia and in this case, was tucked away in a carpark in a town north-west of Melbourne as its test crew took a break.

Mind you, with a sticker on the driver’s door declaring this a “Polestar 5 Testing Vehicle” and as a “Prototype Vehicle” on the boot, it was clear Polestar isn’t too concerned about it being spotted.

And speaking to EV Central at the Melbourne EV Show last week, Polestar Australia CEO Scott Maynard was more than happy to discuss the local testing and its significance.

“The great news with 5 is we’ve actually had a car for a couple of months now being tested in Australia,” he said.

“So that car’s been locally tested. And that testing is just wrapping up now.

“And so there’ll still be some work to do to make sure that car is properly sorted, chassis tune is exactly the way everyone wants it.”

This is the first time ride and handling has been a focus of Polestar testing in Australia.

That reflects the bold claims Polestar is making for the 5’s dynamics.

It’s based on a bespoke new bonded aluminium architecture which Polestar claims delivers a supercar level of torsional stiffness and class-leading ride and handling.

To help deliver that the Polestar 5 has been predominantly developed in the UK by a group of ex-Lotus And McLaren engineers rather than in Sweden or China.

But the powertrain is set to be a huge part of the story too, with the range topped by a 650kW/900Nm dual e-motor all-wheel drive flagship.

The Polestar 5 will also be offered as both a single e-motor rear-wheel drive making at least 350kW, with a higher spec pumping that up to 400kW/700Nm.

The sleek four-door first broke cover in 2020 as the Precept concept and has since been seen in camouflage at Goodwood in 2022 and 2023.

More recently, Polestar has been making big claims about the 5’s new battery tech and 800V charging system, which it says can add 160km of range in just five minutes without degrading battery life.

All that adds up to the 5 being the price and positioning flagship of the Polestar range when it lobs here in 2026, taking over from the Polestar 3 SUV.

“It will absolutely be released in the first part of next year, but we don’t have a date,” Maynard confirmed.