Polestar gets rally-ready with beefed-up versions of 2, 3 and 4 EVs

Polestar has given its line-up of electric cars the full-bore rally treatment in a drive to emphasise “the Swedish brand’s performance DNA”.

Making their public debut, appropriately, at the annual FAT Ice Race in Austria, the ‘Arctic Circle’ versions of the Polestar 2, 3 and 4 each feature extensive modifications aimed at improving their performance on icy terrain.

All three cars get a suspension lift – 30mm for the 2, 40mm for the 3 and 20mm for the 4 – along with three-way adjustable Öhlins dampers, Pirelli studded tyres wrapped around rally-style OZ Racing wheels, beefy front spotlights and Recaro bucket seats.

To complete the look, the snow-prepped EVs all wear chunky mud flaps, gold tow hooks and a bespoke rally livery.

On top of that, the Polestar 2 Arctic Circle – based on the 469bhp dual-motor variant – gets a strut brace at each end, a Thule roof rack and ski mounts (complete with a set of all-terrain skis from Chamonix-based firm Black Crows).

The 510bhp Polestar 3 Arctic Circle, meanwhile, gets a custom roof basket, a set of snow ladders and a heavy duty equipment case, while the 536bhp Polestar 4 gets a combination of those add-ons and – intriguingly – a drift-style hydraulic hand brake.

There’s no word yet on whether Polestar plans to offer the Arctic Circle package on its production cars, but the hot Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 began life as an experimental one-off prototype before being taken to showrooms a year later – so it’s possible these concepts are intended as a sign of things to come.

New company CEO Michael Lohscheller, who said just last week that he wants to “highlight the performance of our cars a little more”, pointed to the concepts as a statement of intent for future model development.

He said: “The Arctic Circle collection illustrates our unique performance DNA, rooted in motorsport and combined with Scandinavian design. We develop our cars under challenging conditions within the Arctic Circle in Sweden, and at the FAT Ice Race we will showcase that on ice there is nothing better than a Polestar.

“We are really excited to be part of this special event with our full model line-up, where it’s all about car culture and the performance experience.”