Polestar teases production Precept EV sedan
The large EV is being developed at Polestar's expanding R&D center in the UK.
Last year, Polestar confirmed the spectacular Precept sedan concept would be going into production, and on Tuesday, the company gave us our first look at the upcoming EV. The glimpse comes alongside an announcement that Volvo's spin-off EV brand is expanding its research and development center in the UK, which has "immediately focused" its work on the production Precept.
The image shows the Precept's body sans a rear bumper or full front clip, but there's a lot of info we can glean. Thankfully, the body looks nearly identical to the concept car, with a long wheelbase and a sleek fastback roof. Little details like the thin light coming off the quarter window and the chamfered lower body surfacing are intact, too. The biggest change is the addition of an actual B-pillar, and unsurprisingly the production car won't have the concept's suicide doors, instead getting traditional front-hinged rear doors with flush handles. There are real side mirrors, too.
The concept, for reference.
When the concept was revealed Polestar didn't give any details about its powertrain, and we still don't know anything about what the production car will use. But it seems like a safe bet to say the production Precept will ride on the same Scalable Product Architecture 2 platform that will underpin the upcoming XC90 EV and Polestar 3 crossovers. Volvo recently announced that its future EVs could have real-world ranges of 1,000 kilometers (about 620 miles) by the mid-2020s, so the Precept could achieve that figure as well. Except the Precept to be available in both single- and dual-motor versions, and potentially with multiple battery pack sizes.
Polestar says the Precept will enter production "before 2025," so we should see a full reveal in the next year or so. And unless plans have changed, the Precept will be built in China. Meanwhile, located at the MIRA Technology Park, the UK R&D center has a test track, an advanced battery testing facility and other specialized equipment. The team currently consists of around 250 people -- more than double the size it was last year -- and Polestar says it will grow to over 500 people in the future.
