Tesla’s continuous onslaught of electric cars and their success thereof has not only shaken up the car world but the company’s ambitions have agitated the car industry so much so that most car manufacturers are scrambling to fill the electric segment of the automotive world . A segment that has grown from being merely a niche to having tendrils that extend from the lower segment of the car market, graced by Nissan’s leaf, to full blown supercars such as the Rimac One.
Volvo is the latest car company to join a slew of other automotive giants in pursuing a share of the ever growing electric car market. Their electric ambitions haven’t come cheap. Volvo’s parent company Geely has invested 640 million Euros to help usher in a new era in Volvo’s history as a car maker. Enter the Polestar 1 concept.
Purely electric, purely performance driven? A question no doubt at the back of the minds of students of Volvo’s racing pedigree. Polestar is known for its hard hitting rally cars and more recently the S60 Polestar which traded blows with industry heavy weights such as the C63 AMG of the time or the C30 Polestar concept which rekindled my love for small hatches. Volvo is consolidating the Polestar brand as a stand alone sub-brand of the Volvo group much like what AMG is to Mercedes Benz. The Polestar sub-brand will be responsible for producing Volvo’s electric car line up.
Volvo plans on unveiling three main cars over the course of the next few years. First of will be the Polestar 1 which Volvo hopes will cement the Polestar brand in the minds of enthusiasts the world over. While the Polestar 1 is a petrol electric hybrid the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 SUV that follow will be fully battery powered much like Tesla’s cars. Even though the Polestar 1 is Volvo’s show stopper it will also serve as the curtain raiser to usher in this new era at Volvo. The Polestar 2 will take the Tesla Model 3 head on and consequently the established compact executive class currently dominated by BMW, Audi, Lexus, Jaguar and Mercedes.
The Polestar 1 has similar underpinnings with the rest of the vehicles in Volvo’s line up. It is based on Volvo’s Scalable Platform Architecture(SPA)with 50% of the platform being unique to the Polestar 1. Volvo’s Scalable Architecture isn’t only centered around the vehicle’s chassis but also its electronics. These include: vehicle dynamics, the car’s body, safety and infotainment. All part of Volvo’s humancentric approach to how they build their cars. Thus as technology advances Volvo is able to adapt the design to incorporate these new technological advancements in their cars.
The power train consists of 3 electric motors and an inline 4 cylinder petrol engine that has both been supercharged and turbocharged. Two electric motors will power the rear wheels while the third electric motor will serve as a starter motor and further complement the power and torque output of the car. This endues the car with a combined output of 600 Hp and 1000 Nm of torque. However enticing these numbers may be, the Polestar 1 is being marketed as a GT as opposed to an out and out sports car.
The Polestar 1 has been endowed with a carbon fibre monocoque to help increase torsional rigidity and keep the center of gravity as low as possible. The car also features bespoke Öhlins dampers and has Akebono six piston calliper brakes at the front.
The Polestar 1 will be production ready by mid-2019 and will be manufactured at a purpose built facility in Chengdu, China. Depending on pricing the Polestar’s rivals will be diverse, ranging from anything from a BMW M6 to the Bentley Continental GT.
If you would like to register interest in the Polestar 1, the order books are open and you can add your name to the list of hopefuls here.
