The rear window redemption - the cheaper, boxier Polestar 4 SUV cures Swedish stubbornness

02 September 2026

SUV Coupé - a curious breed of vehicle engineered to solve a riddle nobody asked for. It usually comes about by chopping off rear headroom and ditching visibility in the name of athletic posturing. Polestar applied that avant-garde dogma to its absolute extreme with the Polestar 4 coupé, deleting the rear window entirely and insisting that an HD roof camera was better than a sheet of transparent glass.

It was bold, a bit theatrical, and mad for sure. But Gothenburg has finally had a moment of clarity. The all-new Polestar 4 SUV resurrects the rear windscreen, straightens its roofline, expands interior cargo, and - in a twist of showroom irony - actually costs less money than its swoopier sibling.

Usually, automotive product planners charge a premium whenever they graft on extra sheet metal and everyday utility. Polestar has flipped that tired script completely on its head. The entry-level Rear Motor SUV arrives in British showrooms at £54,750, cleanly undercutting the equivalent coupé by £2,000.

Step up to the twin-motor all-wheel-drive version, and the financial incentive gets even better - saving buyers a tidy £3,000 with a base tag of £60,750. The fully uncorked Performance model tops the tree at £68,250. With Polestar predicting that roughly 70% of UK buyers will choose the SUV over the coupé, the market logic is obvious. Getting more metal, more headroom, and a view of the car behind you while keeping thousands of pounds in your pocket is an offer that sells itself.

The visual surgery centers entirely on the tail. By straightening the roof and squaring off the tailgate, Polestar has abandoned the coupé's humpbacked silhouette in favor of a clean profile reminiscent of a raised sports estate. Most crucially, there is an actual rear window.

An honest-to-goodness rear view mirror is standard now, though nervous parkers can still tick the options box for the wide-angle digital camera. Polestar relocated the rear camera directly beneath the subtle roof spoiler right next to the wiper arm, meaning a single squirt of washer fluid cleans both the lens and the glass. Up front, revised ADAS sensor clusters hide discreetly behind the bumper, keeping the brand's sharp dual-blade headlight signature uncluttered.

Inside the cabin, that revised roofline pays dividends for anyone relegated to the back row. Rear passengers gain 2.5 cm of extra skull clearance, transforming the second row from an intimate cocoon into an airy lounge. That feeling of Scandinavian openness is amplified by an enormous panoramic glass roof extending all the way back to the tailgate hinge.

For those of you sensitive to summer sunshine, Polestar offers an electrochromic glass upgrade that adjusts its opacity from fully clear to deeply tinted at the press of a virtual button. The interior is as ever a tranquil, beautifully executed sanctuary trimmed in recycled PET fabrics, tailored knit upholstery, and traceable Scottish Bridge of Weir leather.

When it comes to swallowing luggage, the squarer silhouette proves its worth in an instant. The Polestar 4 SUV 18.7 ft³ of cargo capacity with the rear seats upright - a practical 1.06 ft³ jump over the coupé that pushes it ahead of the BMW iX3's 18.4 ft³. Up front, a small 0.53 ft³ frunk tucks away charging cables. Fold the 60/40 rear seatbacks down, and total load capacity expands to 58.8 ft³, rising to 59.3 ft³ if you count every hidden storage recess.

Sure, it cannot quite match the outright cavernous hauling capacity of the electric Mercedes-Benz GLC with everything folded flat, but the standard full-length roof rails can shoulder a load of 220 lb, making sure mountain bikes and roof boxes fit without complaint.

Park it alongside its rivals, and the Polestar stands out - not only because of its design. At 190.6 inches in length, spanning 79.1 inches wide without mirrors, and riding on a generous 118.1 inches wheelbase, the Swedish crossover is wider and more imposing than traditional compact executive rivals.

The Porsche Macan Electric, for instance, is 188.3 inches long and 75.7 inches wide, offering 19.1 ft³ in the boot and a massive {{84 litres}} frunk. The BMW iX3 measures 188.3 inches long. The Polestar sits lower to the road, giving it an aggressive, grounded stance that feels less like a towering truck and more like a muscular Swedish grand tourer.

Do not mistake that family practicality for dynamic softness. Joakim Rydholm and his chassis development crew have treated the SUV to bespoke spring and damper calibrations, deliberately targeting the agile cornering poise of the Porsche Macan Electric. Opting for the Performance pack bolts on recalibrated ZF active dampers, four-piston Brembo front calipers finished in trademark Swedish Gold, and lightweight 22-inch forged alloys wrapped in aggressive Pirelli P Zero rubber.

With a weight hovering between 4,916 lb to 5,192 lb, the chassis promises to stay pretty taut. There shouldn't be too much body roll, and the steering is supposed to be exactly what enthusiasts crave on twisting B-roads - but that's something we will have to find out through a proper road test.

Straight-line performance is genuinely ferocious. The Dual Motor powertrain delivers 544 hp (400 kW) and 506 lb-ft of torque, catapulting the SUV from zero to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds. For buyers less concerned with hypercar acceleration, the single-motor Rear Motor car delivers an honest 272 hp (200 kW) and 253 lb-ft of torque, sprinting from zero to 62 mph in 7.3 seconds. It should feel sweetly balanced and noticeably lighter on its nose, offering an engaging rear-wheel-drive character for everyday commuting.

Under the floor we have a massive 100 kWh battery pack. Thanks to revised powertrain software and low-rolling-resistance tires, the SUV actually ekes out six miles more range than the slippery coupé. The Rear Motor variant claims a maximum WLTP range of 391 miles, while the twin-motor powerhouse manages an official 373 miles.

That covers serious ground, but the electrical backbone does reveal the car's only technological compromise: a 400V charging architecture. DC rapid charging peaks at 200 kW, taking roughly half an hour to charge from 10% to 80%. That is perfectly usable, but it sits in the shadow of the Macan's 270 kW capability, with next-generation warriors like BMW's 500-mile Neue Klasse iX3 and the 503-mile Volvo EX60 promising charging speeds hitting up to 400 kW.

Where the Polestar clawbacks lost ground is in its software maturity and smart lifestyle tricks. The 15.4-inch landscape infotainment display now integrates Google Gemini AI, replacing robotic voice commands with natural conversational interactions that make plotting complex charging stops effortless. Polestar has also baked in bidirectional Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) hardware capable of exporting 3.3 kW of power through an external adapter. Combined with a new dedicated "Camping Mode" that keeps the climate control running, ambient lighting dimmed, and power sockets active, you can easily turn that flat load bay into a mobile Scandinavian bedroom.

The Polestar 4 SUV reveals the company's changing industrial reality under CEO Michael Lohscheller. After weathering early software delays with the larger Polestar 3 and watching Western governments levy punishing tariffs on Chinese-built EVs, Polestar has diversified its manufacturing base. The Polestar 4 SUV rolls off the assembly line at Renault Korea Motors' facility in Busan, South Korea. Building vehicles in Busan allows the company to sidestep trade friction and accelerate deliveries for late 2026.

Pairing legitimate estate versatility with neck-straining performance (and cutting the price tag) helped Polestar to create its most compelling electric vehicle to date. Sometimes the bravest move a design-led carmaker can make is listening to common sense, admitting that drivers actually like seeing out of the back, and letting functionality win over stylistic stubbornness.

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