Polestar 1 prototype assembly begins
The hybrid super coupe inches towards production.
We've seen the Polestar 1 on auto show stands, rip up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and learned about its sales plans, but news that assembly of the first verification prototype cars marks a major step towards a full-fledged production car.
Volvo's in-house performance arm on Thursday announced it has begun building road-going prototypes of the hybrid grand tourer for on-road evaluation, weather testing and crash tests.
Unlike the production vehicles that will be produced in a new Polestar plant in China, the prototypes are being pieced together mostly by hand in Sweden. The new production equipment and assembly techniques developed to build the Polestar 1's carbon fiber body will be tested and refined before they're transferred to the factory.
To recap, the Polestar 1 is a 600+ horsepower plug-in hybrid coupe that will start at $155,000, but will be available for subscription, too. It's Polestar's first car and the only one that will have a gas engine.
All future Polestar models will be full electric vehicles, which includes the Polestar 2 sedan that will be a direct competitor to the Tesla Model 3. The Polestar 3 SUV will appear in the years to come.
