As I tried to see if any of the vehicles I’ve recently driven might escape the histrionics of this week’s “Liberation Day” 25% tariff-o-rama (think Monte Hall’s “Let’s Make a Deal,” with “Blow Up The Outside World” by Soundgarden as the soundtrack), I came up short.

I thought the new, red-white-and-blue Chevrolet Tahoe might escape unscathed, but it’s loaded up with 37% Mexican-made parts. Even the very-American GMC Acadia Denali, built in the U.S., comes with a Mexican-made engine and a load of Canadian and Mexican bits, so no dice. And the Chevy Equinox Activ is even worse, as it’s made in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and is composed of 50% foreign parts. 

Given our absurd new reality (Stellantis has already laid off 900 American employees and temporarily shuttered its car plants in Canada and Mexico and Volkswagen immediately introduced new import fees and suspended shipments of vehicles to the U.S.), let’s go crazy and talk about what technically might be the most heavily tariffed vehicle on the market, which you may have seen me driving around the county last weekend.

The 2025 Polestar 3, the latest, all-new offering from the Volvo offshoot EV brand, may be in marginally better tariff shape in the near future as the ultra-futuristic vehicles will be assembled from foreign parts in a Volvo facility in Ridgeville, South Carolina.

That’s not the case with the $85,000 Launch Edition model I drove, a Long Range Dual Motor configuration with the added Performance Pack (plus a $1,300 metallic paint job and $5,500 in ventilated Nappa leather, producing a $93,000 total; the single-motor base model starts at $67,500). My Polestar 3 was full-on made in China, of 95% Chinese parts, which made me kind of fear I might be arrested by ICE simply for driving it.

In a pre-January 2025 world, the all-wheel-drive Polestar 3 was looking like one of the coolest EV options around, as it takes the lessons of the pleasant but by-comparison bland and extremely Volvo-like Polestar 2and turns it into a fully distinctive vehicle. After this tariff madness, your guess is as good as mine about the final sticker price.

With flow-through air slots on both the nose and tail spoilers (a little snow-catching, unfortunately), gigantic 22-inch black polished/forged wheels and a shape that rather uniquely bridges SUV and sedan looks, Polestar 3 is one-of-a-kind. 

True to Polestar form, it features gold seat belts, gold Brembo brake calipers and a whopping 517 horsepower and 671 lb-ft of torque in this configuration (or 295-hp in a more basic model). Also consistent, it’s a modified version of another Volvo vehicle, the three-row EX90 electric SUV.

The 193-inch Polestar 3 instead goes with two spacious and futuristic rows, leaving a not enormous but manageable 47 cubic feet of storage under the liftback gate, when the rear seats are dropped. 

That liftgate turned into my lifeline to actually controlling the Polestar 3, as all the car’s locking and remote start functions will I guess be handled by phone. Without those capabilities during my week, and quite reminiscent of my experience in the Lucid Air sedan, an oversized key card and tiny, non-buttoned remote meant I was never quite sure if the car had locked and occasionally refused to unlock for me, or also sometimes let off plainful chirps from its alarms, like I’d neglected it.

Do access the cabin and you’re greeted with a super-sharp dash, a minimalistic, 9-inch-wide instrument panel and a substantial 14.5 infotainment display, and virtually no physical controls to speak of.

Again, like Lucid, things as simple as mirror movement or accessing the glove box are on-screen controls, with blacked-out haptic control tabs on the steering wheel also semi-mysteriously being used for inputs. I was unable to pair a phone with the system so I went entirely with the Google navigation – which worked great, accurately computing available range during my trips. I think I might also advise wearing a hat under its full-cabin panoramic glass roof. 

Driving was an equally interesting adventure, but far safer than others with some added Pirelli Scorpion winter tires. Those gave the Polestar 3 a slightly less smooth road feel, especially while cornering, but I appreciated them. 

Range is not quite up to Lucid or Rivian standards, with about 279 maximum miles available here. That dictated absolutely 65-mph driving to not quickly drain the battery, especially headed up our steeper passes. I did manage to only use 20% of the battery from Breck to Denver via U.S. Highway 285.  

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.