Which Polestar model was the brand's first fully electric car?

The Polestar model that was the brand’s first fully electric car was the Polestar 2.

Polestar revealed the Polestar 2 online on February 27, 2019, and production began in March 2020 at the Luqiao CMA Super Factory in China. It is a five-door electric liftback built on the Compact Modular Architecture, or CMA, platform associated with Volvo and Geely.

The model followed the Polestar 1, but the distinction is important: the Polestar 1 was a limited-production plug-in hybrid coupe, not a fully electric car. The Polestar 2 therefore became Polestar’s first battery-electric vehicle and its first high-volume model. It helped establish the brand as a standalone electric-car maker rather than simply a performance label for Volvo cars.

The Polestar 2 also stood out for its software. It was among the first production cars to integrate Google’s Android Automotive operating system, with built-in Google Assistant, Google Maps and the Google Play Store. Later updates changed the single-motor car from front-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive for the 2024 model year.

The Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 arrived later as electric SUVs, while the Polestar 1 remains the brand’s hybrid predecessor.