Sweden's electric car manufacturer Polestar has donated more than $100,000 to UNICEF in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.

The rival to Tesla launched its third performance vehicle this week but events in eastern Europe meant CEO Thomas Ingenlath noted it was "not the ideal time to have a big party," out of respect for Ukraine, but a more modest launch in California.

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Polestar was founded in 2017 and has already produced two electric performance cars. The third addition to its portfolio is an all-electric convertible named Polestar O2. The hard-top design is aimed at customers seeking the look and feel of a sports car with the environmentally-friendly kudos that comes with owning an electric vehicle.

One of the design's selling points is its unique bonded aluminium base, but production costs could soar as prices of the metal rose to record highs following Russia's military operations in Ukraine.

The flow of raw materials has been severely disrupted by the conflict but Ingenlath says it will take time to evaluate what impact it will have on car manufacturing, which has already been slowed by chip shortages and supply chain issues in the last 12 months.

"We have to see how this will play out in two, three, four years time," he told CGTN Europe. "That is the time horizon that we have to have in mind when we look at these developments and obviously, especially when it comes to sourcing batteries."

The Polestar O2 is packed with the latest developments in car technology but it does have one surprise feature that may catch the eye of those who are looking for the next big social media video.

The car comes complete with an autonomous drone that takes off from behind the rear seats and films the driver's journey from above. 

"We wanted to emphasize the experience you can have with a car like the Polestar O2 in new and unusual ways," says Maximilian Missoni, Polestar's head of design, stating it can follow the car at speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour. "Integrating an autonomous cinematic drone was something that allowed us to push the boundaries on the innovation front."

Having a hard-top roof caters for markets that don't benefit from California's regular blue skies, but that may limit the times you can film yourself driving along the rain-soaked roads of parts of northern Europe.

But why has Polestar had plumped for a convertible as the latest model in the range. "Why not," was Ingenlath's reply – probably the same response most owners give when enviously questioned about their recent purchase.