Polestar and Lotus Trying to Topple the Mighty Porsche Taycan

Hmm…have I seen this somewhere before? The back of a Polestar 5.

Backed by China’s Geely, the Volvo-spawned electric car company, Polestar, is getting ready to launch a sleek-looking EV GT next year and it is clear that the Porsche Taycan is the target market they are gunning for.

The contender for Porsche’s Crown, is it Swedish or Chinese?

Polestar is trying to firmly position their brand in the luxury EV segment of the market. The Polestar 3 SUV and 4 SUV spearheaded the Swedish-based but Chinese-manufactured automaker’s push. Now it is clear that the Polestar 5 will be positioned at the pinnacle of their thrust for world dominance as a luxury EV manufacturer.

The Polestar 5 will be a four-seater with twin electric motors that develop 870bhp (650kW) that will push the car from 0-100kph in a time claimed to be sub 3 seconds and go for a total of 480 kilometres (yeah, right). The cockpit is described as minimalist but expect loads of gadgetry with upscale stereo, touch screen displays and LiDAR functions, all wrapped in sustainable materials. Expected price point for the Swedish offering will be about USD100,000, which seems like a lot to me.

The Chinese take-away from the UK.

At the same time, it would appear that the venerable British brand, Lotus, is also putting Porsche on their hit list. Lotus, which is also owned by Geely now, has somewhat boastfully announced that they have developed a new beasty that for now goes by the name of Lotus Type 123, although we are lead to believe that it may well end up being called the Envya.

Lotus is no stranger to performance vehicles, so expect dynamic handling, but the launch model will not be the fastest of the bunch, being equipped with just 603bhp. If you want the real white-knuckle ride version, you will have to await the introduction of the R variant, which we all know will be coming.

Both the Polestar 5 and Lotus 123 (Envya) have similar front ends that seem to take a styling cue from Porsche’s Taycan, but that is where the similarity ends. According to the stats, the car will be faster than the Porsche Taycan, which has a piffling 751bhp, but not in the Turbo S variant. None of them seem to be as good as the barmy Tesla Model S Plaid that boasts over 1000bhp though.

It does strike me though that here we are trying to save the world and get everyone to drive electric cars but all of the new offerings tend to be very expensive and exclusive.

Porsche Taycan, the current champion.