Polestar’s transition from being Volvo’s performance arm to a contemporary performance car manufacturer will move closer to fruition when it starts accepting deposits for the flagship Polestar 1 Coupe next week. After a high profile launch late last year, the Swedish brand's combination of high performance hybrid tech and suave styling has obviously struck a chord with performance car buyers as interest continues to grow.
According to a conversation between Polestar COO Jon Goodman and our sister title Auto Express, interest in the six-figure flagship hybrid coupe has been so strong that the marque is considering expanding production beyond the planned 1500 units. Initially estimated to cost around €150,000 due its hand-built nature, the Polestar 1 is now likely to cost more than that when official pricing is announced later this year.
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The Polestar 1 will be built at the marque’s new facility in Chengdu, China, where it will be based on the same SPA modular platform that currently underpins most of Volvo’s large car range. From here, though, the differences are profound with around 50 per cent of the chassis bespoke to the Polestar 1 and the carbonfibre body completely unique to the hybrid sports car.
Under the bonnet will sit an uprated version of Volvo’s high performance plug-in hybrid drivetrain, combining two electric motors and a lithium-ion battery pack with a turbocharged and supercharged 2-litre four-cylinder engine. Combined, the drivetrain will produce a peak power output of 592bhp and develop 738lb ft of torque.
Acting as a halo product, the Polestar 1 will be followed by an all-electric Polestar 2 saloon and a Polestar 3 SUV. These models will be built in much greater numbers and will sit lower down on the pricing scale compared to the 1. When asked about a follow-up to the near-600bhp Polestar 1, Goodman replied with a sly “we’ll always want a flagship”, pointing to a possible successor in the future.
