After a specially tuned, experimental Polestar 2 electric sedan nicknamed the “Beast” burned up the blacktop at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year, Polestar realised it had something special on its hands. So special, they had no choice but to build a couple more — not too many though — and unleash them on Europe and North America’s roads (and hopefully Australia soon). Meet the Polestar 2 BST Edition 270.
The Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 will MSRP for $US75,500 ($104,809) with $US1,000 ($1,388) for an optional stripe and $US5,000 ($6,941) for a full wrap.
The new Polestar sport sedan comes with the same impressive dual-motor configuration as a regular Polestar 2, here tuned up by 68 hp. The Edition 270 gets the same 476 horsepower and 228 kg-ft of torque as the Goodwood concept, although the Edition 270 comes with four-piston Brembo brakes instead of the six-piston Akebono front brakes seen on the concept. Range isn’t discussed, but one has to assume it’s likely less than the 401 km the standard dual-motor Polestar 2 earns. Volvo also lowered the Edition 270 a full inch over the regular car and stiffened the springs by 20 per cent for a sportier driving dynamic.
Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath has been tooling around in one for the last year. “It was clear we needed to put a special, more performance-oriented Polestar 2 into production,” Ingenlath said via press release.
If you aren’t the CEO of Polestar and are interested in being one of the lucky 270 customers that will get a Polestar 2 BST Edition 270, you can register online to be put on a waiting list. Only 47 will be made available to the North American market, according to Autoblog, so act fast. No word on pricing as of yet, but the brand sees itself in direct competition with Porsche (yes, really!) so expect this special edition to be priced above a base dual-motor Polestar 2 ($US49,900 ($69,271)) but below a Taycan ($US82,700 ($114,804)). If you aren’t the CEO of Polestar (and aren’t paid like one) there is always the Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor, which gets 435 km of range but slices the horsepower down from 408 to 270.
Polestar has come a long way since it was acquired by Volvo in 2015. The company, owed by Geely, spun the Polestar brand off from Volvo’s racing division. The brand announced plans in 2021 to go public near the middle of this year. And the Polestar 2 is a dang good car, according to Jason Torchnisky anyway, and definitely a decent and more affordable alternative to the Tesla Model 3.