Currently reading: Polestar puts 6 sports car on ice as it focuses on 7 and next-gen 2

Low-volume roadster deprioritised as brand works to launch crucial new crossover and replace popular liftback

The Polestar 6 has been put on the back burner as the brand prioritises higher-volume models like the Polestar 7 crossover and Polestar 2 replacement.

Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller told Autocar at the Munich motor show that the next priority was to get into the compact SUV segment in Europe with the 7 (rendered below), which will give Polestar the biggest volume potential yet and make the brand more accessible in its pricing.

Polestar has also “put a lot of energy into the topic” of the next-generation 2, as the liftback has been the Swedish brand’s most successful model to date.

These two models are crucial in building volume for Polestar and supporting retailer growth, said Lohscheller, as part of the brand's switch to a more conventional retail model.

Lohscheller confirmed that Polestar still intends to make the 6 in the future, however, as a model that will use a new bespoke architecture shared with the 5 saloon revealed at Munich.

But for now the focus is very much on building volume in Europe – a market that is by far Polestar's most successful globally. More than 75% of Polestar cars are sold in Europe, and the UK is its biggest single market.

On his plans for the 7, Lohscheller said he hopes to attract younger customers to the brand with the smaller SUV and also more female customers as he accepts the brand "is quite a performance brand" at the moment and has "many, many more male" than female customers

He said the design would be "very different" to Polestar's current models and more of a familiar SUV shape "but at the same time, it will be distinguished and really stand out" in the way the 5 stands out against rival saloons.

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"It will have all the Polestar DNA with the right driving characteristics, chassis tuning, and we will bring all these ideas together in a sustainable way," he said. 

He wouldn't comment on recent suggestions that Geely sibling brand Lotus could look to use the architecture of the 5 and 6 or indeed manufacture Polestar models at Hethel.

Lohscheller also ruled out the possibility of Polestar models ever using hybrid drivetrains, as it would go against the brand's positioning to date and the customer base would "absolutely go bananas".

"We're an EV brand, and so that clarity is really important," he said.

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Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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