Volvo’s Polestar To Become Standalone Electric Performance Car Brand

Volvo bought Polestar in 2015, will now manufacture electric cars as a standalone performance brand.

Published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 16:44 [IST]

Volvo's Polestar brand, which it bought in 2015, will launch a range of electric cars and none of them will carry the Volvo brand but will take a new logo as seen in the image below.

Polestar will continue to deliver high-performance upgrades to the Volvo range. The new offerings from Polestar will primarily be electric vehicles, aimed at competing with Tesla and the Mercedes AMG division on battery supercars, Volvo said.

"Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high-performance electrified cars," it said.

Volvo suggested that Polestar cars will be heavily based on existing Volvo models rather than pure standalone vehicles, a statement said: "Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build a world beating electrified high-performance cars."

Thomas Ingenlath, formerly Senior Vice President Design at Volvo, will become Chief Executive Officer at Polestar.

Ingenlath said: "I am really excited to take up the challenge of establishing this exciting brand, developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channelling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team. The next chapter in Polestar's history is just beginning."

Polestar was built as the motorsport arm of Volvo in 1996 and was acquired by Volvo Cars in July 2015. Apart from creating Polestar cars under its brand, it will also retail performance packages for Volvos under the Polestar Engineered name.

DriveSpark Thinks!

With Polestar becoming a standalone electric car brand, it will give the company a lot more muscle to pursue its agenda of performance car as well as electric vehicles.