Polestar 2 vs MG IM6: which premium Chinese-made EV wins for UK buyers?

Polestar 2 enters at £45,210 for the Standard Range single-motor hatchback — a car that earns its keep mainly on company-car fleets, where its 3 per cent BiK rate cuts monthly costs to roughly £23 for a 20 per cent taxpayer. MG IM6 starts higher, at £48,495 for the Long Range RWD, but its trim list is shorter and it is aimed squarely at private buyers who want premium space without premium badge prices. Both cars exceed £40,000 and so attract the £425-per-year Expensive Car Supplement on VED from years two to six. Neither variant pays road tax in year one. The key private-buyer question is whether the £3,285 entry price gap justifies the very different specifications on offer — particularly on warranty and charging.

This is where the two cars diverge most dramatically. The MG IM6's 396 kW peak DC charging rate — delivered via an 800V architecture — is the highest of any car sold in the UK at any price point. It adds 17 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent at a suitably powerful charger (350 kW+). The Polestar 2 Long Range manages 205 kW peak on its updated spec, taking 28 minutes to the same milestone. On WLTP range the Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor claims 409 miles — 21 miles more than the MG IM6 Long Range's 388 miles. In everyday winter use the gap narrows: the IM6 is a heavier car and returns roughly 2.9 miles per kWh in real-world testing, whereas the Polestar 2 LR SM achieves closer to 3.3 miles per kWh in Auto Express testing. Both need fast DC infrastructure to make long trips convenient, and both work on any Type 2 AC charger at home.

The warranty gap between these two cars is the starkest number in this comparison. Polestar covers the vehicle for three years and 60,000 miles — the shortest standard warranty of any car in this price bracket. MG IM6 offers seven years and 80,000 miles, covering the battery in the same package, confirmed by UK sources including Electrifying.com in July 2026. Polestar's battery warranty is the stronger of the two at eight years and 100,000 miles with a 70 per cent state-of-health guarantee, but buyers who have an early fault on the drive unit or body-electrical systems face a much shorter window. On safety both cars achieved five Euro NCAP stars: the Polestar 2 was tested in 2023 (Adult 93%) and the MG IM6 in 2025 (Adult 90%). One early MG IM6 UK owner reported 17 fault codes after 13 days — too isolated to draw conclusions, but noted for the record. Polestar 2 had two UK recalls in 2020–21, both resolved.

Polestar 2 is designed in Sweden and assembled at Geely's Luqiao factory in Zhejiang on the Compact Modular Architecture it shares with the Volvo XC40 and C40 Recharge. Geely Holding is the majority owner of Polestar, which is publicly traded on Nasdaq. The brand has 80 per cent of its sales in Europe, which gives it strong motivation to continue UK parts and service support even under its current financial pressures. Chinese owners rate the car at 4.69 out of 5 on Sohu Auto, though actual China sales are thin — under 60 units per month in early 2026 — reflecting a car positioned primarily for export markets. The MG IM6 is the UK name for the IM Motors LS6, built by IM Motors — a joint venture between SAIC Motor (China's second-largest state-owned car group), Alibaba and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech. SAIC's state ownership means survival risk is effectively nil, but the Chinese owner satisfaction score on 车质网 (2.1 out of 5.0, approximately 509 complaints across all model years) is the lowest in the premium EV segment and warrants attention. The 150-strong MG dealer network across the UK is the strongest service infrastructure of any Chinese EV brand sold here.

These two cars share a price bracket and a production country, but they answer the premium EV question in opposite ways. Polestar 2 is the choice for company-car drivers — its 3 per cent BiK rate in 2025/26 outperforms anything in the £45,000–£50,000 segment, and its Scandinavian interior and hatchback practicality will suit buyers who want something that feels European. Its three-year vehicle warranty is genuinely short for this price; if you drive it as a private buyer you are taking on more post-warranty exposure than with any rival. The MG IM6 is the choice if you prioritise fast charging, long warranty and the largest-boot SUV-coupe layout at this price. The 396 kW charging capability is meaningful: on a long motorway day you can recover 80 per cent charge in 17 minutes. The seven-year warranty buys peace of mind the Polestar cannot match. The 车质网 2.1/5.0 score is a caution flag that UK buyers should note, even though UK reliability data is too early to be conclusive. Both are credible choices. Neither is without compromise.