Although Volvo itself will not be creating any supercars anytime soon, its corporate spin-off Polestar might be. With AMG cars selling like hot cakes, BMW M and Audi Sport becoming the pinnacle of their respective proprietor, and Jaguar Land Rover investing heavily into its SVR division, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Volvo is trying to follow suit.
The Polestar spin-off from Volvo and parent company Geely has been working with Volvo since it acquired the tuning brand in 2015, offering performance upgrades on coupe models – though without much success or recognition. The tide has shifted now however, with rumours of Polestar planning to build a 600hp rival to the formidable AMG GT. The company has a second car in the works too, but details on this have not been disclosed yet. The first Polestar Coupe, which will be built on an existing Volvo platform (potentially the upcoming S60 replacement), is expected to be revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
Polestar has expertise with hybrid powertrains through Volvo, and all its upcoming production models are said to be electrified. Along with the existing know-how, Polestar will also benefit from the economies of scale pre-existing from Volvo’s supply chain. Despite the assistance from Volco, the brand is anticipated to put out heavily bespoke models. The move to make Polestar a spin-off appears to be a clever idea – performance Volvo’s were unlikely to become popular with fierce competition in the performance-division market. Leaving the Volvo brand-name will also allow Polestar to establish its own character.
Volvo is enthusiastic about the spin-off, and expects a lucrative future: “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 world-beating electrified high-performance cars.”
(via Autocar)
