Polestar is moving to rapidly respond to customer feedback and address software glitches in its cars, better configure its ADAS and rethink its approach to interior controls.

The Swedish brand is poised to launch four new cars in the next two years – the 5 GT, 4 estate, 7 crossover and next-generation 2 saloon – but is also investing heavily in ensuring its existing models are optimised according to customer feedback, which is playing a significant role in key decisions the brand takes.

Speaking exclusively to Autocar last week, CEO Michael Lohscheller said Polestar has “very close contact” with its customers and is using their feedback to quickly address shortcomings with its current cars and design the next generation according to their views.

“We do listen to customers,” he said. “This community is really interesting: 60,000 people – I couldn’t believe it when I joined – and they write about lots of things.

“We have very close contact to customers. We have an agency [retail] model, so we go directly to customers, and we have a very big community who tell us their views, so we are very, very close to them.”

One of the more significant changes adopted by Polestar in response to buyer feedback is its move to include more physical controls in its cars, in a break from the touch-centric arrangement that has been common to all models since the 2 arrived in 2020.

Asked if Polestar would follow brands like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari in replacing touchscreen icons and haptic pads with physical controls for key functions, Lohscheller said: “Absolutely. Customers are very outspoken about that. They say ‘we want more buttons’. It’s that simple. And yes, we will do buttons.”

Polestar will take its first step in this endeavour next year when it introduces clearer buttons to the steering wheel of the 3 SUV, which currently features four unmarked touch-sensitive pads for the cruise control and display screens, as part of a control suite that has been generally criticised for being difficult to navigate and use while driving.

Polestar’s upcoming cars are expected to follow suit as part of a drive to boost on-the-move utility and reduce the amount of time drivers need to spend tapping the touchscreen.

Asked whether the introduction of new buttons and switches was at odds with Polestar’s characteristically minimalist tendencies, Lohscheller said it was important to ensure any design decisions have the end user in mind. 

“We’re very open-minded," he explained. 'We’re not religious here in terms of saying ‘this is how it has to be’. Customer feedback is overwhelmingly clear: they want buttons back. So we will bring buttons back.”

This approach extends to rapidly identifying and addressing shortcomings and glitches in Polestar’s cars, such as the well-documented issues with the digital key’s proximity function on early 3s.

Lohscheller claimed the company’s constant dialogue with owners enables it to quickly devise a fix for affected cars and ensure it won’t be a problem on models that follow.

“In terms of Polestar 3, we really took those things very much on board, very seriously, and integrated it in the model-year 2026 car," he said. "This will be a major, major improvement.

“We have many over-the-air updates to fix things as quickly as possible, because quality is the highest priority.

“We have a car parc of 240,000, so our customers are super close to us and they tell us the good and the bad things. And of course both matter a lot, and we want to react as quickly as we can.”

As with many other brands, Polestar is also working to ensure its ADAS are as intuitive as possible to operate and helpful rather than inhibitive - another area in which real-world feedback is aiding development.

“People are super-interested in that. It doesn’t go away,” Lohscheller said about the evolution of ADAS in Polestar’s cars.

He said customers are telling Polestar to "give us some features to use which do help" and that he believes all ADAS “should work flawlessly”.

The company is thus prioritising the optimal operation of existing systems before looking ahead to more advanced self-driving technology. 

“I don’t think we have people saying ‘we want level-four [autonomy] tomorrow’,” Lohscheller noted.