They’re really shaping up to be the AMG of Sweden.
After its acquisition by Volvo in 2015, performance brand Polestar has been working hard to inject a little more zing into the existing range of Volvo cars, dialling it up to 11 and offering more grunt and driver involvement than any Volvo has a right to have. Having been described in the past as the AMG of Sweden, it seems that like its German counterpart, Polestar will be looking to build its very own car rather soon.
According to a report from Evo, Polestar expects to have a solid concept preview of its performance car intentions prepared later this year. This comes as a surprise to some degree, as this is the first we’ve heard about Polestar going on its own with a bespoke performance car. The Pole-car (get it) will run a fully-electric drivetrain, likely shared with the EV variants of the S90/V90 passenger cars, featuring technology that Polestar Cyan Racing (the racing arm of Polestar) would have on the cooker should rumours be true about PCR joining Formula-E.
Polestar’s push toward its own sports car comes after Volvo parent company Geely acquired a majority stake in British sports car specialists Lotus. The Hethel-based company has, in its 65-year history, engineered some of the greatest drivers’ cars of all time, as well as collaborated with various marques to offer chassis and suspension fine tuning. Considering that electric-car mavericks Tesla started out with a fully-electric version of the Lotus Elise, it’s not too much of a stretch to assume that Polestar may look to Lotus for further refinement of their first-ever dedicated model.
This is a coming-of-age for the brand, as it continues to push its way upward, hoping to eventually stand in the same stead as AMG and BMW’s M-Division. And when you take into account that Polestar refinements (and a talented driver) alone propelled a series-production S60 saloon to claim the fastest four-door saloon car record in 2016, which they recently went public about. That lap record serves to emphasise the sheer capability of the Polestar brand, and we look forward to experiencing the full-EV sports car that it’s working on in the near future.
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