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Polestar 1 will be “thrilling” – chief test driver

Joakim Rydholm glows about upcoming PHEV sports car after its debut at Goodwood.


Polestar's chief test driver, Joakim Rydholm, says the upcoming Polestar 1 sports car is "exciting", "engaging" and "thrilling".

After driving the plug-in hybrid coupe at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Rydholm, had high praise – though we reckon his comments may be a little biased.

"The ingredients for creating the best driving dynamics in a car are the same, whether it has an electric drivetrain or an internal combustion engine," he said. "An immediate damper response from the suspension, direct and predictable feedback from steering inputs and consistent, powerful brakes are the key attributes that all the world’s best driver’s cars have in common."

"That’s exactly what we are engineering into the new electric performance cars from Polestar. In the 22 years of my career developing the chassis for all sorts of cars, I have never experienced a package and drivetrain as thrilling as the Polestar 1."

"The electric performance is so immediate and exciting, plus the torque vectoring technology gives such engaging handling. When you then factor in the Öhlins suspension, Akebono brakes and light-weight carbon fibre body, the Polestar 1 delivers truly outstanding performance," he added.

When he isn't helping develop Volvo and Polestar's performance models, Rydholm is out rallying in a Mitsubishi Evo X Group N in the Swedish rally championship.

His rallying career kicked off in 1987 as a 15-year-old, when he built his first rallycross car for competition. Rydholm joined Volvo Cars in 2008, and took part in the development of the C30 Polestar concept.

Most of his subsequent R&D projects mainly included Volvo's current range of SPA-based models (60 Series, 90 Series), though he was tasked with chassis development for the outgoing S60 and V60 Polestar in 2013.

Today, Rydholm is involved in the development of all future Polestar models, including the 'Polestar Engineered' versions of the Volvo S60, V60 and XC60 model lines.

Set to go into production in 2019, the Polestar 1 is powered by a 2.0-litre twin-charged petrol engine paired with dual electric motors, making for a system outputs estimated at 441kW (600hp) and 1000Nm.

Polestar claims the plug-in sports car will sprint from 0-60mph (0-97km/h) in 'less than four seconds', while the 34kWh battery allows for an all-electric driving range of up to 150km.

Pricing is likely to start around €130,000 ($204,216) in Europe, though don't expect to see one in Australia anytime soon – it'll only be produced in left-hand drive.

Have a watch of the Polestar 1 tackling the Goodwood hillclimb in its 'dynamic debut' in the video below:

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