Design at the heart of the brand’s philosophy. Polestar is set to debut in Italy within the next months and the head of the brand for the Italian market is Alexander Lutz, a manager with a past in Maserati and Audi.
Which models will you offer in Italy?
We are bringing the entire zero-emission line-up of our brand to Italy. We are starting with the Polestar 2, the all-electric fastback that represents the identity of the brand today, and then, by the end of the year, we will also see the 3, a five-seater SUV and the first car with a 100% Polestar design. The 1 and 2 are still perhaps a little close to Volvo, while the 3 is completely different. The 4 will be even further away, showing that the two brands will take parallel but distinct styling paths.
And what about the Polestar 5?
It is a beautiful, streamlined coupé sedan, created as the ultimate expression of sustainability. The 2020 Precept concept car is its direct ancestor, a sustainability statement: it showed the world that electric is the beginning of sustainability, not its final step. It is the first step towards a new approach to design, where everything counts, starting with the materials whose study has been enormous. The production version will be very similar to the concept car.
What is the role of design in Polestar?
Crucial and I believe more so than in any other brand. It is no coincidence that a young brand like ours won the Car Design Award this year for the best design language. We have managed to create in a short time a design identity that defines everything we do. Of course there are the engineers, finance, sales, marketing, but our CEO Thomas Ingenlath is a real designer and this really makes a difference in the choices we make. We can say that we are a “design driven” company.
What will be the role of design in the future?
Electrification and sustainability have brought the discipline of design to the centre and I believe that style will be even more important than in the past. It has always been one of the main motivations for buying a car, but with the arrival of the electric motor, the sound (another reason for sales) will disappear and shapes will emerge even more. On this I can borrow a phrase from Thomas Ingenlath who says: “Style is a subjective element, but design is not”.
What do you think Italian customers will love about your cars?
Different souls coexist in our cars. They are cars with a high technological content but at the same time very sophisticated and with a great soul: this is what Italian customers will love about our products. In Italy, the perception of beauty is at a level that few others can boast, it’s a cultural issue, and I can assure you that we are coming up with beautiful cars. As for sales outlets, Polestar will have corners in the city centres of major European metropolises, including Milan and Rome.
