Polestar Charlotte Grand Opening!

The fine folks at Polestar electric vehicles just held a grand opening in Charlotte NC, and NMS was there! I'll admit that they had a free bar and some free food, but I passed on those and just wanted to check out the new dealership and their cars. 

There were several of these tablets available to check out the cars.

Display room

The showroom had just enough room for 3 cars in it, and it was very sleek and cool looking. If you're looking for an electric car with a ton of horsepower and pretty good range, you might want to put them on the list. They were showing their Polestar 2 model. From what I see on the Internet, there will be a slightly bigger Polestar 3 coming next year, which will also cost a bit more. Oh, and one more interesting thing about this company...

Trunk rear hatch looked pretty useful.

The Polestar company is a joint venture of Volvo (you know, the Swedish guys) and Chinese automaker Geely. The current Polestars are built, in, China. Hey, it's a global economy, in case you didn't get the memo. A little Geely trivia, they have China only models too, of course, and some of them have cool names like "Coolray" and "Okavango." Somewhere online I read the perspective that for those of us that remember being skeptical of Japanese or Korean vehicles when they were new, well, just keep that in mind if you doubt the ability of Chinese makers to build good cars now or in the future. 

Also, and even a bigger deal, is that Polestar will be building their next model, the Polestar 3 in the USA. To be a bit more specific, they will build it right here in good old South Carolina! As a new resident of the Palmetto state, I'd just like to highlight this fact, since BMW already builds their SUVs here (up in Greenville SC,) and the VW company will build a huge new factory for their future Scout electric vehicles in the state also! Amazing!

Back seat room OK, huge sunroof, and dig the seatbelt color!

There are several configurations of the Polestar 2, with the cheapest one being a single electric motor that starts just under $50,000 and has an electric range of 320 miles. 

Big central screen, and funky gear selector

The Long-Range Dual Motor version starts at $55,300 and has a range of 276 miles. 

Brembo brakes, drilled rotors, like most Porsches

Then there is a Long-Range Dual Motor with Performance Pack that starts at $63,000 and has a range of 247 miles. This one has the most horsepower, 455! Also, who prices something right at $63,000.00? I'd like the gas station people to just give us a plain price like this instead of the traditional 3.29 AND NINE TENTHS OF A CENT. COME ON MAN, I'm just TOTALLY out of 9/10th Cent Coins over here!

Free drinks, and free my favorite flavor!

While I haven't test driven one of these, they seem to be very nicely finished, and I'm sure with the power numbers of up to 421hp and 0-60 in 4.3 seconds they are a hoot to drive. You can check out Polestar USA at this link: POLESTAR USA 

Polestar 2

Plenty of room in the front seats, OK in back

I spotted these Michelin 20 inch wheels

The Polestar 2 comes with 3 years or 30,000 miles of free maintenance. Oh, and they'll come pick it up and then bring it back to you too. Maybe every car maker should do this!

Navigation screen centered on the driver