Polestar has dropped the biggest hint yet about its new electric SUV.

Called the Polestar 3, the model is set to arrive next year and will be the first Polestar to be built in the US, with production scheduled at Volvo Cars' production facility in Charleston, South Carolina. All UK version will come from a factory in China, however.

A teaser image has been released by Polestar, and despite the camouflage wrap it's easy to spot how the 3 adopts key styling cues first seen on the Polestar 2 hatchback. 

Polestar – which is a sister brand to Volvo - says the 3 will be ‘one of the most climate-responsible cars ever made’. More than that, safety will be a key feature of the SUV as it'll be fitted with autonomous highway piloting functions thanks to cutting-edge LiDAR sensors.

Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, said: “Polestar 3 is planned to be launched in 2022 as a premium electric performance SUV that will define the look of SUVs in the electric age. It will also be the first Polestar vehicle to be built in America.”

Ingenlath was speaking in New York at a series of events for investors in New York. He said Polestar is aiming to launch a new model every year for the next three years – and the 3 SUV is the first in that plan.

Keeping the model number naming format, the next car with be the Polestar 4 – believed to be a smaller performance-orientated SUV – followed by the Polestar 5, a performance four-door GT car. It's thought the Polestar 5 will be a production version of the Precept concept revealed last year – a car Electrifying had a good look around at the time.

While it may be disguised, it's easy to see the design cues carried over from the Polestar 2 hatchback