The current fashion in automobiles is for bodywork combining the appearance of the coupe and the functionality of the sedan. There’s a good reason for this, the battery-lined floors require the chassis structures to be raised, which aesthetically is not very happy. Hence the designers’ desire to provide a slender profile for this new generation of sedans which, without a scale ratio right next to them, indeed seem sculpted by the wind.
In reality, it suffices to put the driver next to realize that the head barely protrudes from the roof. The proliferation of batteries is currently creating monsters if we want to provide them with performance and autonomy comparable to those of thermals. We are impatiently awaiting the next generation of extra-thin batteries that are easy to house in the smallest volume, with a naturally equivalent capacity of energy restored.
Polestar, the Sino-Swedish owned by Geely and Volvo, declines its fourth model at the Shanghai Motor Show, a top of the range 4.84 m long, 2.14 m wide (with mirrors) and 1.54 m high . Nice effort on this last point, the fully glazed roof falling at the rear on an absence of quarter panel even if its location is marked with a contrasting color. As a result, no more central mirror, the rear view being entrusted to a screen and a camera which, no doubt, will have difficulty passing the homologation in certain countries.
A 10.2-inch driver-facing instrument screen is supported by a 14.7-inch head-up display. In the center of the dashboard is the 15.4-inch general screen, while at the rear a last screen is installed between the front seatbacks. Twelve cameras monitor the surroundings… and the driver in case he is absent.
The design is slick, neat, showing that Chinese brands have been able to surround themselves with good designers, often rejected from European offices. With a wheelbase of 3 meters, the habitability should be good but it is also necessary to house the 102 kWh battery which aims, with the only rear engine of 272 hp (200 kW), a range of 600 km. The latter is optimistically reduced to 560 km on the twin-engine four-wheel drive version, which expects a combined 544 hp. This very beautiful creation, likely to shake Western certainties a little more, is scheduled in Europe in 2024 at an unknown price but announced as competitive.
