In this episode we are in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with Christian Samson who leads the Product Identity team to make sure that every Polestar car has the attributes to make it a very special EV.
Total Car Score
S5E60 - What makes a Polestar 3 such a different EV? It's the people who make it!
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I'm here with you today with the iPhone 16 Pro. I'm here with you today with the iPhone 16 Pro. I'm here with you today with the iPhone 16 Pro. I'm here with you today with the iPhone 16 Pro. I'm here with you today with the iPhone 16 Pro. Welcome to the Total Car Score podcast. Bring you the world of cars from inside the car. And now your host, Carl Brouwer, Lauren Vicks, and Javier Motow. Here we are on another press trip now seen inside 2025 Polster III. And we are here with Christian Samsung. So tell me your title because I didn't get it. I know you're high up in higher gear Polster. I'm Christian Samsung. I work with product development. My title is product identity. Meaning I secured the character of the car, the soul of the car. How are they to be in relation to the owner or user of the car? That's a very interesting even philosophy in the naming of the title because Polster is different in many other ways, right? So that philosophy I think is like the start of what these cars are. It could be and normally the industry will call my title product attributes or something like that. But we have a more wider definition of that. So I came from the target setting in the beginning. The layout and the proportions, how the car is to be designed from architecture. Point of view, choice of architecture through the development phase and the end result. Of course, that continuous loop is very valuable to us. What we find in the end, what was the weaknesses or what was the strength in these setups, what we learned to directly feed it back to the targets and going into the next program. You've been associated with the brand from the start, right? Yes. Yes. But from the start, from these start, or from the start? No. Exactly. Let's go back to that maybe. Polsters had a few starts. Yeah, let's go back to the original Polster. That was what, '96 around there? It could be '96, mid-90s. Yeah. They were at that time racing team only, motorsport. And they built their cars on the Volvo products. And later on they became a SUSI. So more or less the same story as AMG with Mercedes, right? Yeah, it could be. Like an independent company using their cars. Yes. And like then Bob what acquired them. And then they later on created optimizations, software for Volvo cars, but also hardware. Yeah, they were modifying production Volvos after they were doing racing. After they were up here racing team. And they were very successful, right? Like in the rally cars were like winning everything everywhere. Yeah, racing, touring, racing. They won the World Championship, the VTC, back in 2017, I believe. Yeah. They still exist. So Volvo bought the Polestar brand. They bought the ship tuning, the optimization. The race team remained in the original owner's possession and then are called Sion racing. And they're still racing. And then you came in in '17? Correct. When Volvo decided to make Polestar a brand. Yeah. And a pure EV brand, except for the first one, which was a hybrid, the Polestar one. But then since then, it's been nothing but EVs, the two, now the three that we're sitting in. And the four, five and six are coming. Yes. So, Kristin, tell us a little bit about the philosophy that you were explaining this morning in the presentation. Because I think it was very interesting to hear like a fresh boy. It's like very honest in many aspects of it. Like we want to do this and these things. We don't want technology for just technology or like design for just design. Like I think the philosophy that Polestar has brought into this car is very interesting in that way. And make it different from other brands, right? We were created to tread new ground. Yeah. That was that this within the company, the solar company from the start. We're trying to find that sweet spot between, you know, what is good is good over time. What is good doesn't need to change. Some things actually, what if you do this? What if you do that? What if you try something new? And suddenly you stumble upon something that is really good in the newness. So to find that intersection of people who like driving cars that are open for innovation and would like to see progress. So being a petrolhead doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be concerned with your case. I love cars, but I also love technologies. I don't want to be in the nostalgia part of roaring V8s or in the synthetic world of boring EVs. I want the best of both worlds. So I think that our customers out there want the same thing as we do. Yeah, well, I like your description of like the kind of driving dynamic philosophy. I've never heard this before where you kind of push to the sports car level and then you pull back just a little bit to get back the luxury, which I think is probably the target area that a lot of performance luxury brands are shooting for. But I don't think I've ever heard anyone express it that way. Like that's a very effective way to be able to conceive what you're shooting for. You know, that's a better way to describe it than I've heard most other brands that are whatever they're trying to do. They've never used those words to describe it. And I think that's a very effective description. It's almost like we like to disguise the sportiness within any layer of luxury and comfort. So it's still there for people who like driving cars. You don't need to choose. It's not, you know, extremely discomforting to drive a pole store so you should never be. But nevertheless, they are capable. eBay Motors is here for the ride. With some elbow grease and a whole lot of love, you transform 100,000 miles on a body full of rust into a drive that's all your own. LED headlights, spoilers, whatever you need. eBay Motors has it at affordable prices. And with eBay guaranteed fit, it's guaranteed to fit your ride every time. Keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. Guess what's going on with the iPhone 16 Pro on AT&T next up anytime? Let's go ahead and give you an example of what you can do. Let's go ahead and give you an example of what you're going to do. And we'll go ahead and give you an example of what you're going to do. AT&T next up anytime, you can go ahead and give you an example of what you're going to do. Let's go ahead and give you an example of what you're going to do. Let's go ahead and give you an example of what you're going to do. Let's go ahead and give you an example of what you're going to do. So this is going to be a tough one I guess because this is audio, we're not driving actually. But for people who have never been in an EV and there's a lot of them. Probably the majority of the consumers around the world have never driven an EV. So can you explain the feeling, the sensation, the lack of the noise from the explosions up there? But then like getting the other feelings in your body like the side, like the push. Can you explain it like why is this so cool? For someone not being in an EV. I think the ease getting in, no key, no start pattern, just get going. Pull the lever and off you go. With silence, no jerks, no lag, no latency in the drivetrain. The car is glued to the accelerator. You can position it in lengthwise, in position very precise. We focus on the steering. It's all very analog and very intuitive and no gear shifts, turbo lag or nothing like that. And by the way, 489 horsepower, which is a lot. So this car isn't a small car and it's not necessarily a light car. Like most EVs aren't particularly light, but yet it still can do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. So I think that also gets to what you're talking about. I always feel like this with performance. There's the human machine interface and how that feels and what kind of sensations you get. And then there's just what I call the spreadsheet, just all the numbers. And too many people think about, I think the latter, all they care about is the spreadsheet. A lot of people who never drive cars are never going to drive a lot of cars. They just fixate on those spreadsheet numbers. But it is important to think that not only does the car have, you know, dual 380 kilowatt motors that give it 50/50 balance, but they also apply that kind of instant torque that electric cars have to get this, you know, not small SUV to 60 miles per hour in 4.5 seconds. We do not really focus on the numbers and the experience is much more than numbers. Yeah, exactly. So we like to think that the rounded, holistic driving experience of, you know, the pureness, the non-fastiness is what we appreciate. Pushing the car, you can even hear how the car handles. I mean, you hear when the tires start to reach slip angles without tire squeals. I mean, already before that, I mean, it's another way of driving cars. That is, I'm totally, totally absorbed by it. I love it. And then if you need to break really fast, rainbow breaks. Yeah, breaking is impressive. That's right. And that's another aspect of me, like bringing in something from the traditional automotive industry into these new era of electric cars. And that's like, I think for some people at least, like only here, no, it has rainbow breaks. It has to be good. It has to be a sports car, right? It inspires confidence for sure. Yeah. Yeah. On the design, on the exterior design, what do you consider like kind of the most indicative of the car's philosophy and how they manifested on the exterior design? I think the large wheels together with the sleek silhouette, it's sort of a mixture between the SUV and the body and the sleek silhouette. The front and rear wings of course, highlights that you identify, allowing the air to pass over the bonnet unobstructed despite having a bit taller visual front end. I like the way you manage the air. Like in the front, it has that opening and then in the back also. Almost you don't see them in the design. And they're like kind of hidden as of what is moving out of the parking lot here. But that's like really interesting way of doing the air dynamics, right? Yeah. Yeah. It helps us to support a design with still an efficient drag coefficient. Yeah. So this one that we're driving, this is the BallStar 3 launch edition. And this one has rated 279 miles. And that's because it has the added performance packages, right? Because the top range is 315 I believe. Correct. The US? Correct. So that's why, and these are the things that people have to understand. Like why the range goes on, we know, but like you can explain. Why the range goes on when it has more power or it delivers more, right? The range difference mainly relates to the tires. So the grippier tires consume a little bit more in also cruise. You make more friction. You make more friction, yeah. Okay. Then there are slight deviations in how we distribute the power. So the performance version is more prone to use the dual motors often. All the time. Yeah. Okay. By switching that off and increasing safety so many of you. Let's go back now into the cabin and the screens. That's another issue for a lot of people. And you were saying how new things can be better, but it takes time to get used to it. So in this case, we have very simple design. Only one volume now, thank you for only adding that still. But all the rest is through the screen basically. Can you describe how the thinking was behind all this? When going to screen, you need to of course have high quality components with low latencies and quick response times. But the design of the interface is also quite crucial. So going into the settings place like this, big clear tiles of what settings are clustered there. The settings themselves have also very big buttons and clear graphics. Exactly. And some color elements to highlight to give that contrast and clarity of the screens. Multiple way of you can toggle between modes or you can direct hit the mode you want to. There is also a information tag along. You can almost like a simple extract of the man or owner's man or into the settings page. So you understand what functions are affected or what happens when I do this change. Why should I do it? But I like to refer a lot of people complain about like that technology is not easy to use. But it's a new way of doing things. I mean, we're not going back to physical buttons for everything because you will be like a playing cabin. You have 300 buttons. You don't want that. You don't need that. So like people are going to have to learn it. And once they learn it, it's easy, right? I certainly learned it. I used this call a lot. I'm an engineer. I'm an engineer. Fine. Fine. But the user interface, the Google interface is very straightforward. Plus there's voice control too. And there's voice control. The Google Assistant is embedded. And you can move the map navigation to the center, sorry, to the driver screen. There's head-up indication. So in total, it's not many settings you need to do. You add your destination. The settings, your personal settings are stored in your profile. So whatever you store and your wife or whatever. And also I think new technology in everything, not only cars, but computers, TV sets. I mean, how many people know how to set everything in their smart TV at home? It's like in the old days with the VCRs. The hour was always blinking at 12. Because nobody knew how to fix the clock. Every time the power died. Exactly. But you're on that sweet spot that you need to find. How do you reduce settings? How do you allow customization? Because their all-inversation is needed. You do have different preferences. And what can you actually skip? So you are constantly challenging. It's not just adding edit as a setting. You need to have that difficult discussion. Hard for us, but easy for the customer. Because otherwise we will be drowning in settings as well. So we need to have some discipline and try to be a bit anorectic. And then add a few settings back. Well, thank you very much for your work, for your time. Yeah, we'll touch real quick on the price. It starts at 84.9. Yes, it's 84.9 for this one. Tops out at 93.300. This is the launch edition, so it has everything. Including the volume now. They all have the volume now, thank you. And then Christian, so this is the three now, four, five and six coming in a couple of years. More or less, right? Foster is growing fast. Foster is growing. Four is launched at some markets. The five is being worked on. The far of each asset then, kind of a large asset. The five is launched it on, yeah. And the six are convertible that we saw a concept car a few years ago, right? Yes, so the five is six is based on our in-house developed architecture with bonded aluminum. And you know, these cars can be great. I can't wait to see that one. Yeah. Thank you very much for your time again. We're going to go out driving the rain here. Yeah, we've got to drive it. And be grateful for the all-wheel drive that keeps us safe in the rain. Thank you. Thank you for listening. For more, check us out online at TotalCarScore.com. Got a hunch about this football season? Put it in play with fan doors, easy to use app. Right now, new customers can bet $5 to get 200 in bonus bets. Nothing can stop this team. Nothing! Sounds like someone's got an optimistic hunch. 21 plus and president Colorado. Must be first online real money waitren. $5 to provide. The bonus issue does not withdraw, but bonus bets that expire seven days after receiving. Strictions apply. See four terms of fan door.com/sports book. Gabbencrop, call or text, 1-800-GAMBER. What's the name of iPhone 6 Pro on AT&T next time? What is the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of iPhone 6 Pro on camera control? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? What's the name of this video? and I will see you in the next video. You