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Polestar is opening its first North American EV store

You'll need to plan a trip to Montreal if you want an up-close look.

If you want to get a close look at Polestar's cars and check out its relatively novel retail experience, you may need to plan a trip to Canada. Polestar has announced that its first retail partner in the Americas, and thus its first "Polestar Space" in these areas, will be in Montreal. The team still has to pick a location in the city, but you can shop the brand's electrified cars starting in 2020.

The Montreal location will be joined by Spaces in Toronto and Vancouver, plus a "strategically-placed" (but unspecified) retail network in the US.

Polestar's retail strategy is, like the cars themselves, an attempt to break away from convention. Rather than subject you to the usual dealerships with commissioned sales reps (though those will still be around), Spaces encourage you to explore cars (including test drives) and order more on your own terms. To some extent, that's necessary given efforts by Polestar and its Volvo parent to change how you pay for a car in the first place. If all goes well, you'll have the option of picking up a Polestar EV through a subscription, not just a purchase or lease. There's not much need for traditional dealerships under that model, even if those dealerships frequently object to being sidelined.