Polestar cuts price of Pilot Pack after features removed due to chip shortage

Electric carmaker Polestar has dropped the price of its safety-focused Pilot Pack to $3,400, after it was forced to remove a number of inclusions due to the global chip shortage.

Available previously as a $5,000 add-on for its Polestar 2, the Pilot Pack added eight features including Pixel LED headlights with pre-programmed light sequences, fog lights, dimmable exterior mirrors, a 360 degree surround camera, and numerous driver-assist features including Pilot Assist and Park Assist.

An update to the EV maker’s website reveals that the LED headlights, the associated light features and fog lights have now been removed. As of mid-Friday the pricing had not yet been updated, but is expected to be live by Saturday.

A spokesperson for Polestar confirmed with The Driven in a statement that the price of Pilot Pack would be dropped to $3,400 and impacted customers could either request a full refund, or reach out to the company’s customer team for a partial refund (and keep the new Pilot Pack).

It added that the Pixel LED headlights which have “bending and adaptive high beam functionality” have now been replaced with standard LED headlights with active high beam functionality, and in place of the welcome and farewell light sequence animations there will be fade in and out animation.

The front LED fog lamps remain but without the cornering function, the spokesperson said in a note. The changes affect Polestar 2 cars produced from 21 March 2022, for all Polestar markets except the US and Canada, and Polestar says it will contact affected customers from March 14, 2022.

Awkwardly, the EV maker had only just added a number of how-to videos on how to use the light sequence feature, which includes welcome and farewell lighting.

Tesla was also forced to remove a component recently due to the chip shortage. As The Driven reported earlier in February, the EV maker made the decision to remove a secondary steering control unit that is only required for cars with its semi-autonomous Full-Self Driving package.

According to CNBC sources, Tesla made an internal decision not to inform customers of its removal as it was redundant and could be retrofitted if a customer later decided to buy FSD.