BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Chalk it up to perennial sunshine or its picturesque coast, but California is home to more convertibles than any other state.
It also has the highest proportion of electric vehicles. So it was a natural choice for the EV startup Polestar to unveil its zero-emissions O2 convertible concept in Beverly Hills Wednesday, even if the company is based in Sweden.
“I could not imagine any other place to reveal a car that has a retractable hard top than Southern California,” Polestar USA Head Gregor Hembrough told Spectrum News 1. “It’s as easy as that.”
With a removable roof and whisper-quiet drive, the Polestar O2 is an ultra-luxury convertible/coupe that is the spiritual successor to the very first Polestar vehicle: the $155,000 plug-in electric hybrid Polestar 1 with a carbon fiber body, 609 horsepower and 52 miles of all-electric range.
The O2 just does away with the top and goes all electric, using the same aluminum architecture as the Polestar 5 flagship sedan that is slated for production in 2024. Being a concept, Polestar didn’t provide any specifics about the battery or its range.
It did, however, tout its eco cred. The interior uses recycled polyester for all of its soft parts, from seating foam to lamination, in an effort to reduce weight and waste and simplify recycling at the end of its life. The three types of aluminum in the vehicle are also labeled, to enable more efficient reuse.
And then there’s the drone. Yes, the Polestar O2 includes a flying counterpart integrated behind the back seats that can be unleashed to videotape the car as it’s being driven. The drone is designed to automatically follow the car up to a speed of 56 miles per hour and return to its perch after filming. Drivers can then edit the video it shot, and share it, from the car’s 15-inch center display.
Alas, it is not slated for production, though Hembrough is hopeful that public reception for the O2 could sway the Polestar overlords to build what could be the very first convertible electric on the market.
“Everything has to start with a wish,” he said. “We all really want this be part of the Polestar family.”
That family is growing. Polestar has only been in the market since 2019, when it introduced the limited production Polestar 1. The Polestar 2 sedan, released last year, was the company’s first fully electric high-volume car. The automaker will release the Polestar 3 performance SUV this year and the smaller Polestar 4 electric SUV coupe in 2023.
Last year, Polestar sold 29,020 vehicles globally. It anticipates selling 65,000 this year.
Similar to Tesla, Polestar is selling its cars digitally. They can be ordered directly through a web site or in a boutique-like Polestar “space,” where the vehicles can be test driven and, if a customer is so inclined, configured, ordered and arranged for delivery to their driveway.
Polestar opened its first LA space within the last week on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, adding to locations in Laguna Beach, San Jose and Marin. A space in San Diego is “days away,” Hembrough said.
A Swedish company co-owned by Volvo and its parent company Geely, in China, Polestar is hoping to capitalize on the minimalist Super Bowl ad it ran last month. Following its airing as a “no compromises, no greenwashing” alternative to other automakers, the company saw an 18,000% increase of Polestar searches on the Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book web sites, Hembrough said.
Polestar is angling for the same buyer who would plop down $100,000 for a Porsche 911, $140,000+ for an Aston Martin or $200,000+ for a McLaren. Polestar says its customer is someone 35 to 55 years old with a household income of at least $150,000. According to Hembrough, the brand is “for people that want to run their own race, they want their individualism, they want to be different from the crowd.”