Polestar, the Volvo electric car spin-off, has announced the European pricing for the not as good as a Tesla Model 3… Polestar 2. That’s not our opinion, it is the stated opinion of Polestar boss Jonathan Goodman, admittedly with a bit of paraphrasing on our part. Goodman said that the Polestar 2 will “make a wonderful alternative to the Tesla Model 3”. It doesn’t sound like a thrilling endorsement, and it gives the impression that Polestar’s boss doesn’t have much confidence with the new compact sedan. Anyway, the not as good as a Tesla Model 3 Polestar 2 will start from £49,000 in the UK and will arrive in showrooms in 2020.

If Polestar’s boss isn’t flowing with an electric charisma at least the not as good as a Tesla Model 3 Polestar 2 will be flowing with electricity. Range is rated at 311 miles (don’t believe that figure) but more importantly the 78kWh batteries equate to 402bhp. From a compact sedan? that’s supercar territory.

The not as good as a Tesla Model 3 Polestar 2 borrows styling cues from the S60 sedan. Therefore it inherits the minimalist interior styling cues. Indeed most of the infotainment systems, driver safety aids etc are directly sourced from Volvo. But reimagined for the… not as good as a Tesla Polestar 2.

Polestar uses an online reservation system that requires a refundable deposit of £1,000. It’s somewhere out there on the internet. Customer-first deliveries are expected in June 2020.

Personally, if you want an electric car, I would go for the Tesla Model 3. like we have stated before we have no formal or informal relationship with Tesla. And for the purposes of fairness and to prove we are not paid-up shills our editorial guidelines instruct us to say… AHEM!… fuck you, Tesla.