Volvo has bought the Swedish high performance car company Polestar and will now officially use it on high performance factory-built Volvo Polestar models.
Polestar and Volvo already collaborate on bespoke aftermarket performance versions of cars such as the V60 and S60: now, the brand will become a fully integrated part of future model planning.
It means Volvo now has a ready-made performance brand rival to BMW M and Mercedes-AMG.
The Geely-owned Swedish car company has bold aims for Volvo Polestar vehicles, too: it wants to double sales in the medium term from today’s 750 cars, as well as enhancing the aftermarket Polestar performance kits already sold through Volvo dealers (it’s a ready-made alternative to BMW M Performance).
Volvo Polestar: plug-in hybrid performance
Volvo Polestar aims to focus on plug-in hybrid technology to deliver interesting future performance cars, reveals the firm. Already the largest manufacturer of PHEVs in Europe, Volvo reckons its ‘twin engine’ electrification tech will create powerful performance cars that are also environmentally friendly.
The firm has also earlier revealed a 450hp 2.0-litre tri-boost engine concept that would give it a ready-made rival to the BMW M3 Saloon and M4 Coupe…
“Driving a Volvo Polestar is a special experience,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
“We have decided to bring this experience to more Volvo drivers, placing the full resources of Volvo behind the development of Polestar as the model name for our high performance cars.”
All Polestar employees will now become Volvo employees under the deal, completed for an undisclosed sum.
Polestar racing to continue – but be renamed
The Polestar racing team will remain under founder Christian Dahl’s creation – and it will be renamed.
“We are extremely satisfied with the way the performance business with Volvo has developed,” said Dahl.
“But we are a racing team first and foremost. This is an opportunity to return our full attention to our core business – to develop and race Volvo cars.”
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