Polestar reveals fully electric Synergy hypercar concept

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Polestar has unveiled a hypercar concept that not only pushes the boundaries of the Swedish brand’s design language but also offers a new take on the design process.

The Synergy emerged triumphant as the winning design in Polestar’s annual design competition, however, this audacious two-seater hypercar is not the result of a single submission but rather a fusion of three distinct designs.

Guided by Polestar’s in-house design team, the Synergy’s exterior embodies the creative interpretations of Devashish Deshmukh and Swapnil Desai, two of the hundreds of this year’s entrants who tackled the 2023 contest’s “Performance” brief. Meanwhile, the interior design was crafted by Yingxiang Li.

By harmonising these three distinct design visions, the team has birthed a single hypercar concept that redefines the very essence of what a high-performance vehicle should encompass, both in terms of aesthetics and its ecological footprint, according to Polestar.

A notable departure from previous winners of the Polestar Design Contest is that this year’s design was realised as a full-size model in its final stage. This decision allowed the intricate details and imposing proportions of the Synergy to be fully showcased.

At the international unveiling of the Synergy in Munich on the eve of the 2023 IAA, Juan Pablo Bernal, Polestar’s interior design manager and lead judge of the Design Contest, emphasised that the Synergy represents more than just the creation of a flagship car for the brand, it’s about nurturing a new generation of designers.

“The reason behind it is the community,” he explained. “We started connecting with talented designers from all around the world and provided them with Polestar as the brief to provide a sketch. Nowadays, everyone has their little communities and little Instagram accounts, but by bringing everything together, we are one account. Their recognition and talent become so much wider.

“We said, let’s go big this time. We’ve done scale models, which are always appreciated and beautiful, but let’s take one step bigger. We decided to go full-size, and that, in terms of development and curating the model and details, is a completely different process. It needed to embody the essence of Polestar and remain on-brand.”

The Synergy is a two-seater, all-electric, all-wheel-drive hypercar that delivers potent performance while being environmentally conscious.

For suspension, it features inboard dampers with pushrods in each corner, with Swedish Gold double wishbones visible through prominent aerodynamic channels in each front wheel arch.

The Synergy rolls on impressive 23-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Elect rubber, maximising grip while minimising electric range reduction due to drag and friction.

The vehicle’s body panels exhibit vast, unadorned expanses, embracing a “minimalist” design philosophy that prioritises clean aesthetics over distracting embellishments.

Polestar’s branding is subtly integrated, primarily through the ‘Thor’s Hammer’ headlights, which extend in a striking signature over each front wheel arch with a single LED pinstripe.

At the rear, the Synergy wears a full-width LED light bar incorporating the Polestar logo and model name. This feature is framed by the company’s signature exploded right-angle accents at each corner of the Synergy’s tail.

Inside, Li’s cabin offers seating for two in deeply contoured seats, complemented by the brand’s well-known Swedish gold harnesses. The steering wheel display conveys essential information, including the occupants’ vital signs, ensuring “a calmer performance driving experience,” as described by Li.

However, don’t get too carried away with the Synergy’s avant-garde design just yet. While some elements of the concept’s design may find their way into Polestar’s future projects, Bernal emphasises that the primary goal of this endeavor is to nurture and recognise emerging design talent, rather than previewing an imminent new model.

“It’s not showing the future of Polestar as a brand but, of course, it needs to be Polestar. The detail and the love and care comes from our side.

“The beauty of this project is the collaboration between them (entrants) and us. We brought the experience and they had the energy and the passion.

“We’re trying to translate their vision and design using our experience to provide that flavour and the Polestar essence to make sure that it is right for the brand.”

Until the bold Synergy concept receives the green light for production, Polestar enthusiasts can look forward to the Polestar 6, slated to join the family as an aspirational sports coupe in 2026. 

Convertible enthusiasts, on the other hand, will have to remain hopeful for a production version of the O2 concept down the road.