Volvo promises 'world-beating' performance EVs under Polestar brand
Polestar has stepped out from under the shadow of its parent company.
Polestar once stood for the pinnacle of performance Volvos. Now, after being spun off, it'll focus on the same thing, but with more electricity.
Volvo announced Wednesday that Polestar will be splitting off from its parent company. The two will still work closely, but Polestar's focus will change from building hi-po Volvos to something entirely different -- performance-oriented electric vehicles.
That's a pretty slick badge.
"Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars," said Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo's CEO, in a statement. "With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world's most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments."
It's doubtful that Polestar will make the leap directly to EV manufacturing, especially as Volvo has yet to release even one battery-electric EV (although it's on the way). Instead, it's likely to start with plug-in hybrids, a form that can still put out some serious performance thanks to electric motors that can drive the vehicle directly.
Polestar will still continue tweaking current Volvo models under the Polestar Engineered brand, but the company will focus primarily on creating its own vehicles. These vehicles will likely share a good deal of components with Volvo's cars, as the statement claims Polestar will benefit from "specific technological and engineering synergies" and "significant economies of scale."
Polestar started life as its own company, working alongside Volvo in motorsports from 1996. In 2015, Volvo acquired 100 percent of the company, and it's lived as an in-house performance sub-brand since then. Its most recent pair of cars, the S60 and V60 Polestar, put out 367 horsepower and 347 pound-feet of torque from a twin-charged (supercharged and turbocharged) inline-4.
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