Key new Zeekr 7X rival shapes up

Polestar is prepping a new luxury electric SUV and it has the Porsche Macan in its sights. A new Polestar 4 variant will go on sale in Europe this September with a new SUV body shape. It is expected to launch in Australia before the end of the year. Polestar said this new SUV will provide a more practical alternative to the strong-selling four-door fastback model. It gives Polestar a more direct rival to the Porsche Macan which starts from $129,800 (before on-road costs). There is no news on price, but we can expect it to sit around the $80,000 price point in reasonably close proximity to the existing model. Other potential rivals include the Tesla Model Y Performance ($89,400, before on-road costs) and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N-Line ($83,700). The biggest challenge for the new SUV could be the Zeekr 7X from Polestar's Chinese sister brand under common Geely ownership, priced from just $57,900 before on-roads. It is likely the Polestar 4 SUV will be available in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive forms with the latter producing up to 406kW when it arrives in Australia. It will ride on the same 400-volt architecture as the existing Polestar 4, as opposed to the Polestar 3's 800-volt underpinnings. Driving range has been boosted by 10km to 630km for the rear-wheel drive variant, according to WLTP standards. Polestar has only revealed one teaser image of the car so far, showing the rear quarter. We will learn more about the Polestar 4 SUV in the coming weeks ahead of its September launch date. The four-door coupe variant recently got an update and a price cut in Australia, with that model arriving later this month. Its single-motor variant continues to start from $78,500, before on-road costs, while the dual-motor grade now starts from $86,350, which is $2000 cheaper. It has proved to be the brand's best-selling model in Australia, and it will continue to be offered alongside the new SUV. Polestar is plotting more models in the coming years, including a Polestar 2 successor in 2027, and a Polestar 7 compact SUV in 2028.