Credit: Polestar

Today, Polestar debuted its newest model. Just as three is followed by four, next in the series comes five—in this case the Polestar 5. And the new EV is a little departure from the products we've seen so far from this Swedish/Chinese startup. It's a handsome if angular sedan that, like the Polestar 4 SUV, eschews a rear window in favor of more headroom for passengers and a rear-view camera.

"Polestar 5 is bringing the future to our present. Our vision for Polestar's design, technology, and sustainability direction is no longer a dream but a reality our customers can buy," said Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller. "With its pure Scandinavian design inside and out, unique platform, powerful motors, sophisticated chassis, cutting-edge technology, and consciously sustainable materials, the Polestar 5 is a guiding star for the industry and the perfect Polestar flagship."

As we found out when we met the car early during its development, the Polestar 5 uses a bonded aluminum chassis, similar to various Lotuses and most current Aston Martins. Indeed, plenty of the development engineers working at Polestar's UK R&D center in Coventry can count those brands on their CVs. The bonded aluminum approach results in a very stiff but quite light chassis, making it a good starting point for a performance car.

The quick passenger ride we got back then convinced me that the Polestar 5 was going to be a problem for Porsche's Taycan, and a look at the powertrain specs confirms that. It's an 800 V setup, powered by a 106 kWh (useable, 112 kWh gross) battery pack that can fast-charge from 10–80 percent in just 22 minutes.

Two specifications will be available. The Dual Motor offers 748 hp (550 kW) and 599 lb-ft (812 Nm) and can accelerate to 60 mph from a standing start in 3.8 seconds. Then there's the Performance, which ups things to 884 hp (650 kW) and 749 lb-ft (1,015 Nm), cutting the 0–60 mph time to 3.1 seconds.

"Our R&D teams worked tirelessly to develop the Polestar Performance Architecture from the ground up, and it's paid dividends in how this performance-focused GT drives. Alongside the in-house-developed rear motor, 800 V electrical architecture, and innovative engineering decisions, it makes Polestar 5 an incredible all-round Grand Tourer," said Lutz Steiger, Polestar's CTO.

Inside there's the usual crisp techwear-inspired interior that uses a flax alternative to carbon fiber (called BComp) among the natural materials that Polestar has chosen to keep the car's carbon footprint and weight down ("Animal welfare-secured leather is an option).

Sadly we're still waiting on Polestar to tell us when North American cars might arrive or how much they'll cost when they do.