Polestar has had its fair share of problems lately. The automaker ousted founding CEO Thomas Ingenlath amid a significant decline in sales and was struggling to get new product out the door. But newly appointed CEO Michael Locheller believes one of Polestar’s biggest problems — at least in America — is the way its cars look.
In an interview with the UK car magazineAmerican and Chinese buyers “don’t want a lot of understatement,” Locheller said, referring to the brand’s current design language. This design language was penned by former design chief Maximilian Missoni – who left for BMW – and debuted on the Polestar 1 Coupé in 2019.
Photo by: InsideEVs
But that doesn’t mean Polestar will take its vehicles in a completely new direction. Loscheller still wants its cars to look “confident” above all else.
“The brief you provided [new design boss Philipp Romers] “It is to highlight the performance and show it in a confident way,” Losschiller said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean more colours. More paint choice leads to complexity. But you know what? Polestar is sometimes a little modest, a little too modest… but don’t expect a radical change, it’s a fine line.”
With the Polestar 5 sedan and Polestar 6 sports car already on the way, major design changes likely won’t come until the Polestar 7. The Polestar 7 will be the brand’s new compact SUV, designed to compete with the Macan electric car.
At the helm of the new look for Polestar will be Philippe Römers, the brand’s new head of design. Römers previously worked as head of design at Audi, where he designed the A6 and Q6 E-Tron, as well as the seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf.