Polestar has completely overhauled the 3 SUV and, wait, hasn’t it only just gone on sale?

“The upgrades to Polestar 3 are so extensive, it’s like an entirely new car,” says Polestar boss Michael Lohscheller on the announcement of a 2026 model year update to the brand’s big SUV. Now, forgive us if we’re misremembering, but hasn’t the Polestar 3 basically only just gone on sale? Seems a bit early for an overhaul.

“With this upgrade we continue to deliver on our commitment to add value for our customers through over-the-air software and hardware updates. The already amazing Polestar 3 is now better than ever,” continues Lohscheller.

We’ve just double-checked and first customer deliveries of the 3 only began in the middle of last year, so won’t everyone who bought one so far be rather peeved that it’s now completely out of date?

Well, Polestar does say that existing owners will be offered one of the updates as a ‘complimentary retrofit’. That’s the new NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin processor that apparently replaces a previous Xavier chip. It means processing power jumps from 30 to 254 trillion operations per second, which is, erm… a lot.

That’s your lot if you’ve bought a 2024/25 car though. The new 2026 cars will also upgrade to a full 800V architecture (up from 400V) which allows charging speeds to jump up to a 350kW peak, meaning a 10 to 80 per cent top up is now 22 minutes, 25 per cent faster than before.

The new architecture also means efficiency is improved by six per cent, and there are new lithium-ion batteries with a 92kWh unit for the entry-level Rear Motor version and a 106kWh pack for the Dual Motor and Performance versions.

There’s also a whole new in-house developed motor for the rear axle with more power, meaning the top end Performance version now gets a hefty 670bhp (up from 510bhp) with more rear bias. Plus, the front motor can now disconnect when not required to improve efficiency in everyday driving.

There are also updated anti-roll bars and new software for the steering, which we’re told results in “an even more direct and engaging driving experience across all model variants”. Prices will start at £69,990 for the Rear Motor version, rising to £77,990 for the Dual Motor and a whopping £91,990 for the Performance. Oh, and you’ll be able to tell them apart by their seatbelts, with black for the Rear Motor, black with a gold stripe for the Dual Motor and “full Swedish gold” for the Performance.

Presumably this is finally the car that the 3 was always meant to be. Launched too soon? Certainly sounds like it.