The Polestar Precept is an all-electric super-saloon from the future – FOS Future Lab
Polestar has unveiled its Precept, a concept for a large luxury electric saloon to take on cars like the Tesla Model S and likely new electric Jaguar XJ. It is revealed in full here for the first time, five weeks later than planned after cancellation of this year’s Geneva Motor Show owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath is our guide in the video to the new car, what he says is sustainable luxury “food for thought”. Thomas says it puts “dystopian brutalism” behind us and looks to a future of sophisticated, hi-tech minimalism. You can rely on the Swedes to take a cerebral approach...
The Precept is important for the Volvo spin-off brand in several ways. The all-electric firm says it was created to showcase the key Polestar areas of sustainability, digital technology and design. But we can also take it as a declaration of independence away from overtly Volvo-inspired design, as well as a sign of Polestar’s ambition.
Polestar has yet to get its first mainstream model, the Polestar 2, on to the roads, but with its Chinese ownership and brand new assembly facilities in China, it clearly has the will and resources to expand its range with a luxury flagship. The firm calls the concept “an important milestone for Polestar as a standalone brand.”
Thomas Ingenlath tells us: “Precept showcases our future, not as a fancy dream or something out of a sci-fi movie. This is our reality, to come.”
The Precept comes across as a production car in-waiting in plenty of ways. It is a large four-door saloon with a tailgate that sits on 22-inch wheels spaced far apart – the wheelbase is as long as a Jag XJ’s – to ensure a lounging amount of cabin room, despite the low profile and curving roofline. Rear-hinged back doors and a missing B-pillar open up the sides of the car in impressive (if very concept-car) fashion.
The roof is almost entirely glazed, the glass extending far rearwards to where in a regular car there would be a separate rear screen. The Precept has no rear window; the only view out the back is on dashboard displays from cameras at the sides and the rear.
Hi-tech minimalism describes the front end where in place of air intakes there is a blanked “smart zone” for the car’s sensors and cameras. Future autonomous driving capability is supplemented by a roof-mounted LIDAR (laser scanning) pod mounted on the roof.
Polestar’s cool Scandi character is summed up by the new lights with their “Thor’s hammer” motif echoing the brand’s logo. The square-cut rear end with vertical “air blades” provides a very distinctive look as well as delivering efficient aerodynamics, according to Polestar.
As well as being light and spacious the interior showcases Polestar’s sustainability efforts. You won’t find chrome, leather and wood here, but you will find flax-based natural composites instead of plastic, seat covers made from 3D-knitted material made from plastic bottles, carpets woven from reclaimed fishing nets and waste corks from the wine industry turned into coverings for seat bolsters and head rests. The cabin is recycled and vegan, says Polestar.
It is all set off by Scandinavian minimalistic design and the latest in digital technology and connectivity, centred around a large 15-inch touch-screen dominating dashboard, Tesla style. The smaller driver’s display conveys driving information and also monitors the driver to make sure they are paying attention.
Could you see yourself driving a car like this? A production version may be several years away but with the Precept, Polestar shows it has a clear idea of where it is heading – once the “dystopian brutalism” is out of the way...
Welcome to FOS Future Lab where we report on the latest visions of future technology. We'll be boldly covering flying cars, hoverboards, jetpacks and spaceships with plenty of down to earth topics in between.
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