For the better part of a decade, the electric vehicle industry has been locked in a race to delete the humble button. Dashboards became glass walls, climate controls vanished into touchscreens, and simple tasks like defrosting a rear window turned into multi-tap scavenger hunts through digital menus. Polestar's new Formula 2030 concept car pushes back against that trend — and its most radical feature might just be a row of old-fashioned physical switches at the base of its center console.
Revealed in Gothenburg alongside the media launch of the Polestar 4, the Formula 2030 marks the design debut of Philipp Römers, who took over as Head of Design in January 2025 following years of shaping volume sellers at Audi and Volkswagen. While the concept officially serves as a rolling illustration of Polestar's end-of-decade business plan — sell more cars, reach sustained profitability, and cut production emissions — it also offers a tangible preview of what's coming. The styling and interior philosophy shown here will directly influence the second-generation Polestar 2 arriving in 2027 and the Polestar 7 compact crossover due in 2028.
Proportions That Break the EV Mold
Measuring 4,680 mm in length with a 2,780 mm wheelbase, the Formula 2030 occupies roughly the same footprint as today's Polestar 2. But at 2,021 mm wide and just 1,350 mm tall, it sits dramatically lower and broader — even ducking beneath the roofline of the Polestar 5 grand tourer. Park it next to a Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo (4,963 mm long, 1,966 mm wide, 1,390 mm tall) or a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N (4,715 mm long, 1,940 mm wide, 1,585 mm tall), and the concept reads as something between a midsize hatchback and a mid-engined supercar.
Achieving that stance over a floor-mounted battery pack required some creative packaging. Rather than letting a thick slab of cells dictate a high seating position, Polestar's interior team sank the four individual bucket seats deep into the chassis tub. Air-inflatable bolsters and cushions replace conventional foam padding and power-adjustment motors, trimming both weight and bulk while dropping the center of gravity — though occupants carrying sharp objects in their pockets may want to exercise caution around the inflatable surfaces.
A Cabin That Puts the Driver First
Entry comes via dramatic pillarless coach doors — pure concept-car theater that is unlikely to survive production crash regulations. Once inside, however, the priorities are clear. Interior design chief Juan Pablo Bernal openly acknowledges that Polestar needed to restore balance between screens and physical hardware.
Beneath a 12.2-inch portrait touchscreen sits a modular array of genuine, tactile controls. Even better, the hardware is designed to be owner-swappable: drivers can choose rotary dials or rocker switches and assign each one to their preferred functions. After watching Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz retreat from frustrating capacitive touch sliders and quietly reintroduce real buttons, Polestar's embrace of physical switchgear feels like the industry finally admitting it went too far.
A Dashboard That Transforms
The rest of the cockpit blends genuine utility with motor-show spectacle. A curved 20-inch instrument display is mounted directly to the steering column, moving in sync with the chopped yoke-style steering wheel. Select Performance mode, and the central touchscreen folds down into the console to eliminate glare and distraction while the wheel and instrument cluster draw closer to the driver. Engage Autonomous mode, and the wheel retracts entirely, a LiDAR sensor rises above the wraparound windscreen, and the center display returns to its upright position.
Whether performance-car buyers actually want autonomy is debatable, but a screen that hides itself on a demanding road is a genuinely compelling idea. And when settings need adjusting with the display stowed, Google Gemini integration handles natural-language voice commands through the native operating system.
Sharpened Scandinavian Styling
Exterior design lead Nahum Escobedo and his team have evolved Polestar's established geometric language without abandoning the identity built under Thomas Ingenlath. The nose — which previews the 2027 Polestar 2 — combines the brand's Dual Blade headlights with an integrated aerodynamic wing and a deep splitter connected to a central body spine. A single vertically mounted wiper sits at the center of the visor-style windscreen, a clear homage to endurance racing prototypes and fellow Swede Koenigsegg.
At the rear, Polestar has deleted the full-width light bar that has become ubiquitous across the industry. In its place, new Single Blade taillights debut a look destined for the production 2028 Polestar 7. The entire car rides on 22-inch center-lock four-spoke wheels and wears a paint finish called Nitrogen, layering matte, satin, and gloss textures. Traditional Swedish Gold highlights appear on the Brembo brake calipers, valve caps, and seat harnesses.
Engineering on Display
Polestar has not disclosed battery capacity or power figures, though Römers notes the body was developed around the hard points of an existing Geely Group platform. Considering that Geely's SEA architecture already supports vehicles like the Zeekr 001 FR and Lotus Emeya, an 800-volt electrical system with dual motors delivering more than 1,000 Nm of torque seems entirely plausible.
More revealing is what Polestar chose to show rather than hide. Open the front trunk and instead of the usual plastic cladding, you'll find a Swedish Gold strut brace, race-spec inboard Öhlins adjustable dampers, and a storage compartment sized for two helmets and a fire extinguisher. At the rear, a transparent floor panel displays bespoke luggage secured over exposed natural-fiber composite bodywork.
Sustainability Without the Sacrifice
That visible structure reflects a broader materials strategy led by Maria Uggla, aimed at cutting manufacturing emissions without compromising the premium feel. Inner door panels are constructed from a single material, allowing them to be recycled intact at the end of the vehicle's life. Exposed seat frames and the cross-car structural beam use low-emission galvanized steel produced with renewable energy. Seat backs and the rear clamshell employ Bcomp flax and bio-based polypropylene composites instead of carbon fiber and virgin plastics.
In a segment where a BMW i4 M50 weighs in at 2,290 kg, reducing mass through natural composites while simultaneously lowering factory emissions is arguably more meaningful than chasing additional horsepower.
A Sign of Where the Market Is Heading
For buyers and rival manufacturers alike, the Formula 2030 signals a maturing electric vehicle market. Polestar has navigated financial turbulence in recent years, squeezed between fast-moving Chinese competitors like Xiaomi and BYD on one flank and punishing import tariffs in the United States and Europe on the other.
The concept's priorities — low-slung proportions, exposed engineering, and the return of honest physical controls — suggest Gothenburg understands a fundamental shift: when nearly every EV can deliver supercar acceleration, differentiation no longer comes from 0-100 km/h times or screen count. It comes from how a car feels in the driver's hands. If the production Polestar 2 and Polestar 7 carry even half of this philosophy forward, the brand's road to 2030 looks considerably more interesting than a spreadsheet.
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