Thomas Ingenlath is CEO of Polestar. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

As automakers race to electrify their model lineups, the competition to stand out has never been greater. Luckily, thanks to electrification, the opportunities to develop new designs are abundant. But if automakers want to succeed, designers need to seize these new opportunities and start developing the cars of the future.

Car companies have followed the same evolutionary design path for decades. Now, with electric cars, everything is changing quickly.

Without an internal combustion engine and a fuel tank, there are new design possibilities to explore. In most passenger vehicles, there is a large engine under the front hood and a fuel tank that takes up space somewhere under the vehicle. While there is, of course, a need for battery and electric motor placement in EVs, designers are not locked into this traditional framework and are able to package the batteries and motors differently.

When approaching design for this new era, automakers must introduce revolutionary cars, not evolutionary cars.

Automakers have a history of trying to make their electric cars "look like an EV." For some reason, many thought an electric car needed to look "different" — and the result was often ugly. Historically, both the media and the general public have expressed distaste for electric car designs that stood out because they were electric, as opposed to just being a well-designed vehicle.

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