#polestar-4

#polestar-4

Its core trait is its minimalistic and very Swedish exterior design. The 4's muscular figure, unique headlights, and interesting body lines give it solid presence. But the real elephant in the room is no glass on the rear hatch, which no doubt makes it stick out on the road. The reasoning, though, is fairly straightforward: it's the only way that Polestar could give a compact crossover SUV such a sleek figure without sacrificing rear-seat passenger head or legroom.

Say you're driving in the left lane of a US highway and your exit is up ahead on the right side. "With live lane guidance, just glance at your dash display to see exactly which lane you can be in at any given moment," Google says in a blog post. (Of course, you can also look at the road to figure out this information.)

It's become an unfortunate norm among automakers to promise new features first and then deliver them weeks or months later via software updates. And the execution is often lousy and imperfect. But Google's software prowess and the established Android Automotive OS ecosystem mean the upcoming 2026 Polestar 4 might skip the sluggishness of these over-the-air software updatesand vastly improve navigation. The electric coupe-shaped crossover will debut Google's new Live Lane Guidance system for the first time in any vehicle.

Polestar has long had an identity crisis. After being spun out of Volvo's performance division back in 2017 to become a separate brand, the two still feel like siblings who share the same closet. They're both premium Sino-Swedish brands that pick from the same parts bin for their models, collaborate closely on engineering and are under the same Geely Group parent company.