Polestar debuts in Korea, targets premium EV market

Polestar, the former Volvo company that spun off to become its own brand, announced its launch in South Korea on Tuesday.

Aiming to become the game changer of the local EV market that is seeing a growing demand for the green vehicles, the EV company will introduce its first model Polestar 2 on Jan. 18.

Polestar 2 is a five-door fastback equipped with a 78 kWh battery and two electric motors that can produce 408 horsepower.

“We will be introducing Polestar 2 to our Korean customers at a reasonable and attractive price. We have compared the pricing of EVs and we are aware of the government’s EV subsidy policy. Polestar Korea will provide the most attractive price than any other market,” said Jason Ham, CEO of Polestar Korea.

The premium car will still come at a hefty price tag, he said, but it includes a range of perks, such as a five-year, 100,000 km insurance on every purchase and accessibility to 31 service centers nationwide.

Starting with Polestar 2, Polestar Korea will be introducing at least one premium EV each year until 2024.

All purchases will be processed online completely, meaning that customers will be able to make car orders, reserve test driving, and check the date they will receive their cars on their PCs and mobile devices.

But that does not mean Polestar Korea will not have any offline touch points with customers.

The carmaker said it will invest 50 billion won ($41.94 million) until 2024 to establish 10 touch points with their customers, starting with Destination Seoul, its first showroom, followed by Space Gyeonggi to be established within this year in Starfield Hanam, Space Busan in the coming January, and Destination Jeju within the first quarter of 2022.

At the press conference, Polestar Precept -- Polestar’s concept car -- was showcased for the first time in South Korea.

First revealed in 2020, the concept car is a model that defines the direction Polestar takes with its car designs and embodies Polestar’s three core values: pure, progressive, and performance.

Polestar Precept will be exhibited in Destination Seoul for a week.

“We aim to sell 30,000 cars by 2026. I cannot say how many Polestar 2 we expect to sell next year yet. But I can ensure you that it will be a remarkable number,” said Jason Ham.

By Hong Yoo (yoohong@heraldcorp.com)