Polestar to Be Dedicated Performance Brand for Electric Volvos

Volvo’s Polestar performance sub-brand will be morphed into a dedicated electric performance car division, the Swedish automaker has announced.

Volvo hopes to turn Polestar into a “separately branded electrified global high-performance car company,” in the years going forward and has released a teaser photo of a new badge that will likely adorn new Polestar vehicles. It has appointed Thomas Ingenlath, former vice president of design at Volvo, to serve as Polestar’s new CEO, while Jonathan Goodman, former senior vice president of communication at Volvo, will assume the position of COO.

“Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars,” Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson said in a statement. “With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.”

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Polestar will work hand in hand with Volvo to design, develop, and build performance-oriented electric vehicles. It’s not clear what kind of products they may have in the pipeline, but you can almost guarantee they have vehicles like the Tesla Model S P100D directly in their crosshairs.

Volvo acquired Polestar Performance in 2015, which was at the time a Sweden-based motorsports company with history in the Swedish and Scandinavian Touring Car Championships, among others. Volvo’s decision to morph it into an electric car division is especially fitting, seeing as the team was an early adapter of E85 ethanol in the STCC for environmental reasons. After winning the first two rounds of the 2007 STCC season with E85 powered cars, Polestar’s Robert Dahlgren proclaimed “Above all, this is a victory for the environment!”

Polestar says it will make further announcements in regards to its future products, industrialization and commercial plans in the fall.

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