Polestar is the official Volvo Cars performance company and brand, based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Polestar develops electric performance cars, high-performance cars based on Volvos and offers technical and cosmetic upgrades to enhance Volvo models. Until 2015, Polestar Performance was a division of Polestar along with the Polestar racing team.^[1] and prototypes.^[2] Volvo announced in July 2015 that it had purchased Polestar Performance. The racing team will remain under the direction of Christian Dahl,^[3] changing name from Polestar Racing to Cyan Racing. A close cooperation with Polestar is maintained with Cyan Racing becoming official motorsport partner to Polestar, the Volvo Cars performance brand.^[4]

In June 2017, Volvo announced Polestar would begin producing high-end electric performance cars under its own name and badge, to compete with brands like Tesla Motors. ^[5]

Historical overview

• 1996: Flash Engineering was founded in Sweden to race the Volvo Touring Cars in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC). The first car was the Volvo 850 Super Touring, build by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR)
• 1998: Volvo S40 Super Touring, build by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), was used to race the team
• 2003: Volvo S60 S2000, originally build by Prodrive and further developped by Flash Engineering, was used to race the team
• 2004: Flash Engineering was purchased by Christian Dahl
• 2005: Flash Engineering was rebranded to Polestar
• 2009: Volvo C30 S2000 is the first complete raceproject by Polestar. In this year Polestar became official Volvo partner to modify existing Volvo model, under the brand Polestar Performance. The racing division is called Polestar Racing
• 2010: Polestar introduces the Volvo C30 Polestar Concept, their first road car
• 2012: Polestar introduces the Volvo S60 Polestar Concept, their second road car
• 2013: Volvo S60 Polestar and Volvo V60 Polestar are the first production road cars
• 2015: Polestar Performance and Polestar brand are purchased by Volvo, Polestar Racing remains owned by Christian Dahl and is rebranded to Cyan Racing
• 2017: Volvo announces that Polestar will develop high-performance electrical cars under the Polestar brand. Polestar will be positioned as an independent car manufacturer. The logo of the company changes slightly: the cross with a little round in the middle is replaced by 2 arrows. In October, Polestar introduced their first own model: Polestar 1.

Products

Cars

Production Cars

Polestar produces under the label Engineered Cars performance road cars based on Volvo models. The chassis and suspension is enhanced, the drive-train and engine, steering, wheels and brakes. The interior and exterior get a sportier make-over. Polestar also develops new engines and transmissions.

Polestar also offer own models under the Polestar brand, the first Polestar branded car was introduced on 17 October 2017: Polestar 1, a luxurious 2+2 coupé inspired by Volvo's Coupé Concept in 2013 and technically based on the Volvo Scalable Product Architecture platform (60- and 90-series). The drivetrain is a plug-in hybrid of an ICE and electromotors, with a combined power output of 450 kW (600 hp) and 1,000 N⋅m (740 lbf⋅ft) of torque, vectored by two rear 80 kW (110 hp) motors. The car has a 34 kWh (46 hp⋅h) battery and a range of 150 km (93 mi) in pure electric mode. The Polestar 1 will be built in a new purpose-built Polestar Production Centre in Chengdu, China,^[6] from 2019 at a rate of up to 500 per year, and applied mainly as subscription rather than sale.^[7] Polestar announced that the Polestar 2 will be available in 2019, a mid-sized battery-electric vehicle (BEV) joining the competition around the Tesla Model 3. The initial phase of the Polestar product roll out will then be completed by the subsequent arrival of a larger SUV-style BEV, the Polestar 3. ^[8]

Concept Cars

Polestar produces prototype cars as well, with the first and most famous being the C30 Polestar Performance Concept Prototype (2010) with over 450 bhp and 510 Nm.^[9]

The Volvo S60 Polestar Concept is the heir to the C30 Polestar, featuring 508 BHP from a modified T6 engine, launched in June 2012.^[10] The car sprints from 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) in 3.9 seconds with a top speed of over 300 km/h (190 mph).^[11] American car magazine Motor Trend tested the car at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca where it broke the lap record for four-door cars, matching the lap time of an Audi R8.^[12]

Performance parts

Polestar offers different parts under the label Engineered Parts, to style and enhance Volvo cars. Exterior and interior can be styled and upgraded which can also give the vehicle better performance. These parts are spoilers, diffusors, lowering sets, exhaust, wheels, interior trims, ..

Performance optimisation

Under the label Engineered Optimisation, Polestar offers enhancements for Volvo cars which deliver better performance. Examples are engine optimisations with retained warranty and unchanged fuel consumption and emissions. The engine optimisation increases the power and torque output, varying depending on engine model. The response of the throttle can be modifief and the character of the transmission is tweaked.

Racing

Polestar has been working with Volvo since 1996, starting with racing Volvo cars and being involved in the development of race cars. Nowadays Polestar and Cyan Racing are teaming as Polestar Cyan Racing to race Volvo's and develop high-performance parts.

In 2014, Polestar has been involved in the development of a V8 powered Volvo S60 that is raced by Garry Rogers Motorsport in the Australian V8 Supercars series.^[15] Robert Dahlgren was seconded to Australia in 2014 as part of this programme and pulled out in the end of 2016.^[16]

Race cars

• Official website