2026 Polestar 5 Debuts as 884-Horsepower Taycan-Fighter

Staying remarkably true to 2020’s Precept concept, the 5 is a long, low four-door. Some lines have been massaged and the liftback opening has evolved, but largely what we saw then translates to now. There’s a stark minimalism here, and a sense of a thin skin stretched across an underlying (aluminum) chassis. Polestar says the aviation world was a primary influence and yep, we see it. With the 5, the brand moves even further from its vaguely Volvo roots, committing to its own bisected headlight treatment and ultra-thin taillights, all of which are fully LED. Clever aero tweaking like flush glass and retractable door handles have resulted in a low drag coefficient of just 0.24 for the Dual Motor model. Surviving the transition to production is the lack of rear glass: like the Polestar 4, the 5 uses a digital rearview mirror, instead using the space for additional structural support.

There is still plenty of glass for natural light here, as the 5 employs a massive glass roof panel, measuring over six feet long and four feet wide.

Inside is more traditional Polestar: again with the minimalism, sporting a monochrome color scheme and an almost complete lack of buttons. Most controls are handled via the large, portrait-mounted central touchscreen, with rotary dial for audio controls on the center console and context-sensitive steering wheel controls.

The Polestar 5 is what the brand is calling a 4+1 configuration: a vestigial middle seat is available the back-seat folks would rather fold up their central armrest and sacrifice their climate controls. We sat in the back of the Polestar 5 during a ride-along in a prototype last summer: with the “foot garage” carve-outs in the floor-mounted battery, space is definitely more Lucid Air and less Porsche Taycan. The seats themselves are Recaro designs, mounted low to maximize headroom. Seat heating for the four outboard seats is standard; ventilation and massage functions are optional.

There is a big focus on natural and recyclable materials within the Polestar 5 cabin. A flax-based material adorns the seatbacks, which Polestar says is 40-percent lighter than plastic and uses roughly half the fossil fuel-based materials. This comes from Switzerland-based sustainability company BComp, which also provides the inner-lining of the trunk. The carpets are made of things like recycled fishing nets, the headliner is recycled plastic bottles, and there is a knit along the door panels. While leather seats are optional, the Bridge of Weir-sourced hide is “welfare secured, chrome free, [and a] natural by-product of the food industry.” Well okay then. A 10-speaker sound system is standard, with an available Bowers & Wilkins setup boasting 21 speakers and 1,680 watts of power.

Using a Polestar-specific version of Android Automotive, the 14.5-inch screen features sections that owners can customize, and which will house their most used functions. A 9.0-inch digital instrument cluster sits directly on the steering column, while a 9.5-inch head-up display is also standard.

This is a Swedish brand, so safety gets a big spotlight. Polestar calls its collection of sensors, cameras, and radar at the front of the Polestar 5 the SmartZone. All in, there are 11 exterior cameras, one interior driver-facing one, one radar setup, and a dozen ultra-sonic sensors.

This is one of those times where we’re happy to be wrong. When we got that ride-along in prototypes last summer, yours truly predicted around 500 horsepower. Turns out that wasn’t close to what the production car will be throwing down.

At launch there will be two models, both employing a motor at each axle and a 112.0-kilowatt-hour gross (106.0-kWh usable) lithium-ion NMC battery from SK On. The Dual Motor will produce 748 horsepower and 599 pound-feet of torque, enough to get the four-door to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.9 seconds. The Polestar 5 Performance bumps those figures to a stout 884 hp and 749 lb-ft, shaving 0.7 off the standard dash. Both models are electronically capped to 155 mph (250 km/h).

Bringing everything back down to a stop are front brakes measuring 15.7 inches, clamped by four-piston Brembo calipers—painted gold on the Performance trim.

This platform is a whole new bonded aluminum architecture, created by Polestar and (currently) exclusive to the brand. It features a compact double-wishbone suspension up front to enable that low, low nose and yes, does feature some 13-percent recycled aluminum.

Dual Motor models feature passive dampers with internal rebound coil springs. Representing an about-face since the prototype drive, the Performance packs MagneRide adaptive dampers from BWI. The system monitors the road 1,000 times per second, adjusting the viscosity of the magnetorheological fluid in just three milliseconds to keep the Polestar 5 planted. Wheels range from 20 to 22 inches, wrapped in Michelin rubber “designed specifically for the chosen wheel combinations of Polestar 5,” according to the automaker.

This platform is Polestar’s first 800-volt setup, enabling quicker recharge times. Polestar is predicting the typical 10-to-80 percent recharge in as little as 22 minutes if owners hook up to a 350 kW DC fast charger. AC charging caps at an impressive 19 kW. Owners can easily check the current state of charge via an indicator on the C-pillar. Range estimates on the European WLTP cycle are 416 miles (670 kilometers) for the Dual Motor and 351 miles (565 km) for the Performance; we suspect a dip of about 10–15 percent for the more stringent EPA testing.