On Saturday, September 13th, Polestar celebrated its fifth anniversary in the UK with its largest-ever customer event: Polestar Festival. The event at Bicester Motion set the backdrop to the UK unveiling of the new Polestar 5, its new four-door performance Grand Tourer.
Around 1,000 customers joined Polestar’s UK team at its headquarters in Bicester over the weekend to celebrate the rapid growth of the brand. The Swedish performance EV brand sold its first car in 2020 and today there are over 45,000 Polestars on the road in the UK.
Polestar UK asked 180 owners to mark the occasion by creating the world’s largest Polestar logo collage ever created with customer cars on Bicester airfield. The 170m wide collage took three hours to build using precision positioning to create the world’s largest Polestar logo.
Polestar Festival, hosted by presenter and car enthusiast Vicki Butler-Henderson, was the venue for the UK reveal of the new Polestar 5, the brand’s four-door performance GT, which was largely engineered in the UK, by Polestar engineers at Horiba MIRA in Nuneaton. Born from the Precept concept, first unveiled in 2020 as a statement of intent for the brand’s future design, technology, and sustainability vision, and now realised by the Polestar 5.
In attendance were many of Polestar’s renowned technology and engineering partners, including Bowers & Wilkins, Google, Gentex, Bridge of Weir, Pirelli, Brembo, Zaptec and Octopus Energy. Each brand demonstrated their expertise to customers in the partner zone.
Exhibited in the UK for the first time was Polestar’s Arctic Circle collection, Polestar 2, 3 and 4. Demonstrating the brand’s performance DNA and showcasing the very best of Polestar engineering, the three one-of-a-kind cars could be virtually driven in a series of simulators around the Fat Ice Race track in Zell am See, Austria.
In addition, the Guinness World Records-holding Polestar 3 Long range Single motor was on display. Supported by Kevin Booker, one of the endurance drivers who helped accomplish the longest journey by an electric SUV, achieving 581 miles on a single charge. Talks were held for customers throughout the day on how to maximise range when driving an EV.
Visitors were also treated to performance demonstrations in Polestar 2, 3 and 4 on the Bicester airfield and an exciting off-road demo in Polestar 3.
Throughout the day, panel discussions took place on the main stage with discussions between key Polestar personnel and technology partners, including Fredrika Klarén, Polestar’s Head of Sustainability, discussing the motor industry’s back-tracking on the move to zero emissions and Head of Exterior Design, Nahum Escobedo, explaining how the Precept concept led to the conception of the Polestar 5.
Matt Galvin, Managing Director, Polestar UK, said: “It was incredible to see so many customers and friends of the brand on Saturday, and the reception to the new Polestar 5 has been astonishing. Polestar UK is growing fast and has a very exciting future ahead of it, and I would like to thank all our customers for being part of this success story.”