Five Scandi-licious Features of the All-New Polestar 5
“Nothing in this car is here by coincidence.”
Edward LohWriter, PhotographerSep 10, 2025
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Swedish EV brand Polestar debuted its flagship Polestar 5 grand tourer to flashing lights and cheering guests at a rooftop party on the opening night of IAA Munich. After the crowds parted and champagne bottles were cleared, we cozied up to the speedy-looking Swede-y to find our five favorite features:
1. One Hammer, Two Blades
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Polestar started out as a racing team that campaigned Volvos in the Scandinavian Touring Car Series. It morphed into a high performance Volvo tuner before being acquired by the company in 2015 to become its in-house high performance brand. In 2017, Polestar relaunched as a premium, all-EV brand, that prizes performance, sustainability, and distinctive Scandinavian style.
All of this you can see in the “dual-blade” daytime-running lights (DRLs) on the Polestar 5, as their shape is reminiscent of the signature “Thor’s hammer” DRLs found on Volvos, except cleaved into two.
2. Subtle Charge Status Indicator
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EV makers around the world have used lighting elements to provide instant and easy readouts of the battery’s charge status. Some are garish or straight up corny; not so with the Polestar 5. Its charge status indicator light is hidden in the trailing edge of black trim that undercuts the roofline behind the rear quarter windows. When charging the 112-kWh battery, a thin line of white LED light pulses, ever quicker, until the desired state of charge is reached, at which point the light becomes a constant glow.
3. No Rear Glass, No Problem
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Like the Polestar 4, the 5 does not have a rear window. Instead there’s a camera mounted high on the back of the car that displays a virtual rear view inside. Without the rear glass, is the five-passenger grand tourer dark and claustrophobic? Quite the opposite as the Polestar 5’s panoramic glass roof is the largest of any Polestar vehicle, 78-inches long and 49-inches wide.
This provides rear occupants an airy, aerial view forward, while they lounge in the two deep and supportive seats with tons of legroom. In the Polestar 5’s 4+1 seating arrangement, the rear center armrest folds up to accommodate a center passenger, who sits high and forward of the other two.
4. Stylish and Sustainable Interior
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While enjoying the rear cabin, occupants may notice an interesting woven pattern on the backs of the front seats, one that carries over from the Polestar Precept concept car. The surface layer is called ampliTex and is derived from flax fibers sourced from Swiss supplier Bcomp, exclusively for Polestar, to support its mission of delivering premium, sustainable, and uniquely Scandinavian vehicles. And that’s not the only place you’ll find sustainable sourced materials. The Polestar 5’s seating surfaces can be optioned in Bridge of Weir leather that is primarily sourced from the UK and Ireland’s beef and cattle industry. The matching leather on the door card isn’t actually leather, but it’s convincing enough to fool both eye and hand. Just as the carpet and floor mats look every bit like what you’d find in a luxury vehicle, but are made of Econyl, a brand of “regenerated nylon” also used by Gucci and Burberry that’s made from recycled fishing nets and carpet.
5. Low, But Not Compromised
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Polestar designers and engineers are very proud to deliver a sleek and sporty five-seater, with a relatively low roofline given that the floor of the Polestar 5 is occupied by a 112 kWh, lithium-ion battery pack. Polestar CEO Michael Lohcheller, who stands over 6’ 5” inches tall, confirms that all of the seats have plenty of room for his lanky frame over long distance test drives. This interior space didn’t come at the expense of cargo capacity, either, as the Polestar 5 has a 2.3 cubic foot frunk, deep enough for a soft carry on, and a trunk that can hold an additional 13 cu-ft of cargo.
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The Polestar 5 in these photos is the top spec, 884-horsepower Performance (Launch Edition). It’s finished in matte grey paint with optional 22-inch wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport tires. The Polestar 5 isn’t on sale in the U.S. yet, but in Europe, this model has starting price of 141,600 Euros (or $165,600 dollars at current exchange rates.)
Edward Loh
I used to go kick tires with my dad at local car dealerships. I was the kid quizzing the sales guys on horsepower and 0-60 times, while Dad wandered around undisturbed. When the salesmen finally cornered him, I’d grab as much of the glossy product literature as I could carry. One that still stands out to this day: the beautiful booklet on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX that favorably compared it to the Porsches of the era. I would pore over the prose, pictures, specs, trim levels, even the fine print, never once thinking that I might someday be responsible for the asterisked figures “*as tested by Motor Trend magazine.” My parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, worked their way from St. Louis, Missouri (where I was born) to sunny Camarillo, California, in the early 1970s. Along the way, Dad managed to get us into some interesting, iconic family vehicles, including a 1973 Super Beetle (first year of the curved windshield!), 1976 Volvo 240, the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, and 1984 VW Vanagon. Dad imbued a love of sports cars and fast sedans as well. I remember sitting on the package shelf of his 1981 Mazda RX-7, listening to him explain to my Mom – for Nth time – what made the rotary engine so special. I remember bracing myself for the laggy whoosh of his turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz 300D, and later, his ’87 Porsche Turbo. We were a Toyota family in my coming-of-age years. At 15 years and 6 months, I scored 100 percent on my driving license test, behind the wheel of Mom’s 1991 Toyota Previa. As a reward, I was handed the keys to my brother’s 1986 Celica GT-S. Six months and three speeding tickets later, I was booted off the family insurance policy and into a 1983 Toyota 4×4 (Hilux, baby). It took me through the rest of college and most of my time at USC, where I worked for the Daily Trojan newspaper and graduated with a biology degree and business minor. Cars took a back seat during my stint as a science teacher for Teach for America. I considered a third year of teaching high school science, coaching volleyball, and helping out with the newspaper and yearbook, but after two years of telling teenagers to follow their dreams, when I wasn’t following mine, I decided to pursue a career in freelance photography. After starving for 6 months, I was picked up by a tiny tuning magazine in Orange County that was covering “The Fast and the Furious” subculture years before it went mainstream. I went from photographer-for-hire to editor-in-chief in three years, and rewarded myself with a clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX. I subsequently picked up a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ60) to haul parts and camera gear. Both vehicles took me to a more mainstream car magazine, where I first sipped from the firehose of press cars. Soon after, the Land Cruiser was abandoned. After a short stint there, I became editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Sport Compact Car just after turning 30. My editorial director at the time was some long-haired dude with a funny accent named Angus MacKenzie. After 18 months learning from the best, Angus asked me to join Motor Trend as senior editor. That was in 2007, and I’ve loved every second ever since.
