Polestar

The Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept has set a new lap record at the iconic Nurburgring Nordschleife for four-door and front-drive vehicles, also marking a first-time achievement for the new Chinese brand.

Polestar has unveiled the car it hopes will take down the Tesla Model 3 overnight, in the form of the 2. It's stayed true to its original concept, too, with a design heavily inspired (almost entirely inspired, in fact) by the Volvo Concept 40.2. On the inside, the Polestar 2 has a dashboard design that's quite different from the Volvo XC40, with a free floating portrait-orientation 11.0-inch touchscreen dominating the cabin.

The Polestar 2, a competitor for the Tesla Model 3, has teased via an image released on the company's social media feeds. Describing the way forward as electric, Polestar confirmed "this year we go all-in with the launch of the electric Polestar 2". While the upcoming Polestar 1 is a 2+2 hybrid coupe based on the Volvo S90, the Polestar 2 is set to be a fully electric model designed to tackle to the Tesla Model 3.

Having spun Polestar off into its own electric-focused performance brand, Volvo wowed the world with the Polestar 1. With 441kW and 1000Nm on tap from a hotted-up version of the T8 twin-engine plug-in hybrid powertrain used in the XC90 and S90, the car is thoroughly modern under the skin.

Volvo’s performance arm has today unveiled what it calls the very first vehicle of its new era of performance electric cars. Polestar says the launch of the Chinese-built Polestar 1 will lead the way to two other models, the creatively named Polestar 2 and 3, in the coming years. Australian buyers will be disappointed to know that for now, the Polestar 1 is left-hand-drive only. However, the two additional models will be made available in right-hand drive from the get go.