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Volvo confirms Polestar will become separate electrified sports car brand

Volvo has confirmed it will transform Polestar into a "new separately-branded electrified global high performance car company".


The new Polestar division will be headed up by Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo Cars' senior vice president in charge of design. Its chief operating officer will be Jonathan Good, who is currently in charge of corporate communications at Volvo.

In announcing Polestar's new status, Hakan Samuelsson stated: "Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars.

"With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments."

It's not clear what type of models the newly liberated Polestar brand will offer, with the company set to announce some its plans starting in the northern autumn.

New Polestar CEO Ingenlath said his team will be "developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channelling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team".

At its most basic, Polestar could slot electric drivetrains or retuned hybrid powertrains into exisiting and future Volvo models, and tweak badging and styling to suit.

Taken to its most extreme, Polestar might produce electric sports cars and supercars. Today's announcement noted "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".

Interestingly there's no mention of Lotus. Last month Geely, Volvo's parent company signed an agreement to take a controlling stake in Lotus along with a sizeable share in Proton.

Somewhere in the middle, the brand could build its own unique models atop Volvo's CMA small vehicle, and SPA mid-size and large car architectures.

The Polestar brand will continue to feature in the Volvo catalogue, with the Swedish car maker to continue offering optimisation packages for its cars using the Polestar Engineered brand.

Volvo and Polestar have been working together in motorsports since 1995, and began producing road-going vehicles in 2013. In 2015, Volvo purchased Polestar, but spun off the company's racing operations.

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