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Polestar 1 will start at $155,000 in the United States

From the Beijing Motor Show comes word of pricing for the forthcoming Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid, but more confusion on the question of whether the high-end coupe can truly be purchased, as opposed to being obtained solely through a subscription model.

Various outlets report the Polestar 1 will get a $155,000 starting sticker price in the U.S. That's cheaper than its retail price in both Europe (155,000, or U.S.$188,800) and China (1.45 million, or U.S.$229,200), where it will be built, according to Carscoops. Details on the monthly subscription rate are still forthcoming.

At the Geneva auto show in March, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told Autoblog that "Polestar will be subscription service, 100 percent," which seems pretty unequivocal. The company has said its subscriptions will go for either two or three years and cover depreciation, insurance and routine maintenance.

But the brand has also suggested customers might be able to purchase one outright, including in this Instagram post from last October. We attempted to get clarity on the issue back then to decidedly mixed results, though Polestar press manager Johan Meissner told us that "People will only be able to subscribe to the Polestar 1."

So is the new "retail price" just a frame of reference, or an actual purchase price? We're not sure, and maybe it's something Polestar will want to clarify before the car hits the market in 2019.

Polestar began taking orders last month, with a reported 6,000 interested buyers outpacing the company's initial projection of a limited-run production of just 1,500 cars. The two-door grand tourer makes 600 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque, with 50 percent of the car "new and bespoke" and the rest borrowed from corporate parent Volvo.