Chery Omoda E5 vs Polestar 4

What's the difference?

Okay, this is getting crazy. It feels like barely a week of 2024 is going by without another value-focused, pure-electric SUV hitting the Australian new-car market. 

And this is the latest, the Chery Omoda E5, a compact, five-seater with the performance and range to challenge some other relatively recent arrivals.

It joins the internal combustion Omoda 5, variations of which have proliferated in the roughly 18 months it’s been on sale here.

This is CarsGuide’s first look and we’ve assessed everything from value and practicality to safety and driving performance. So, stay with us to see if this EV could be your entree into the world of battery-electric SUVs.

Polestar finally has more than one offering in its Australian model range. Following the Polestar 2 sedan that arrived in late 2021, and the recently launched Polestar 3 large SUV, the Geely-owned marque has just launched the model that is expected to be its top seller.

The Polestar 4 is a medium coupe-style SUV with liftback vibes, and it is set to line up against some of the most popular EVs on the market, including the Tesla Model Y.

Although, as Polestar execs claim, and the price suggests, it’s a more premium offering than the Tesla.

It is loaded with new technology, including a digital rear-view camera that replaces a traditional rear windscreen, which will either appeal to, or alienate buyers. Probably the former given the appeal of new tech to EV buyers.

But can the Polestar 4 snatch attention away from Tesla and the other solid electric SUVs of a similar size? Read on to find out.