- Polestar 2 will be reborn for a new generation and it won’t morph into yet another amorphous crossover.
- The new Polestar 2 will be built on the same new platform as an upcoming crossover, which will be designed and built in Europe.
- Polestar will make another 2 because it doesn’t want to alienate buyers of its most popular model by far.
The most popular model from Volvo’s electric spinoff brand is the Polestar 2. The electric sedan-like liftback accounted for four out of five Polestars sold around the world, or over 180,000 units sold, so its success can’t be contested. However, the Chinese-made EV’s future wasn’t clear in a tariff-heavy industry increasingly shifting to producing crossovers and SUVs over sedans, hatchbacks and wagons.
But we now know Polestar is committed to having a compact model that isn’t a mini-SUV in its lineup, which also includes a sporty fastback that’s more than just a Porsche Taycan rival, two crossovers and a future dedicated sports car.
Work on an all-new Polestar 2 was confirmed to Australia’s Drive at IAA 2025 in Munich earlier this month. Polestar’s recently appointed CEO Michael Lohscheller told us as much at the beginning of this year, but now he has even more details about how its revival is going.
Lohscheller acknowledged to the Aussie publication that a new model was on its way, as well as the fact that it would retain its current name.
“Let’s word it like this: I want to have those current Polestar 2 customers back. I want to have those, because we built it up [the customer base],” Lohscheller said. “I think we did a great job, and I want to keep them in the family.”
Polestar seems to be going through some sort of identity crisis, so dropping its most popular model, whose formula clearly worked, seems like a move that would hurt the company.
Lohscheller’s statement seems to contradict what former Volvo design boss Thomas Ingenlath said a year and a half ago, when he stated that “we will not replace a Polestar 2 with a Polestar 2.” This sounded like yet another crossover was in the works, and that’s likely still the case, but the new, similar-footprint high-rider will sit alongside a Polestar 2 rather than replace it.
The new Polestar 2 is still a few years away, and it’s not clear where it will be produced—it’s currently only made in China for all global markets. It gained plenty of fans in the United States, where it was sold until earlier this year when the 100% import tariff imposed on Chinese-made cars made its Stateside sale uneconomical.
Polestar 2 fans in the U.S. who couldn’t buy one anymore likely chose a Tesla Model 3, Hyundai Ioniq 6 or BMW i4 instead. Tesla likely benefited the most since it’s the only local brand producing vehicles in the country, thus avoiding tariffs. There aren’t that many electric sedans on sale here and manufacturers seem reluctant to offer them. For instance, Volkswagen wanted to introduce the ID.7 in the States, but then changed its mind.
The new, smaller crossover, called Polestar 7, will be based on a new Geely platform and is currently being designed in Europe, where it’s also expected to be manufactured. The new related Polestar 2 could also come out of a European factory. But that would still mean the vehicle is subject to a 15% tariff, which would bring the price up enough to make the model uncompetitive, especially with the federal tax credit program coming to an end.
Polestar could produce the new 2 for the U.S., where Volvo currently makes the EX90, and the Polestar 3 for the local market in Ridgeville, South Carolina. However, Volvo also plans to build the electrified XC60 in Ridgeville, so there likely won’t be room for a new model there without a major expansion of the facility.
