Polestar 1 Will Grace Goodwood Festival of Speed, Tackle Hillclimb

Sean Szymkowski
by Sean Szymkowski

For the first time, the Polestar division will showcase the Polestar 1’s capabilities.

The plug-in hybrid performance coupe will have its driving debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and tackle the venue’s famed hillclimb.

Polestar, formerly Volvo’s in-house tuning division turned standalone brand, announced on Monday that prototype #004 will make the trek to West Sussex, England, to make its “dynamic” debut and show off its performance capabilities. The 1 is a carbon-fiber bodied coupe with a plug-in hybrid powertrain making a total of 600 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. The battery pack will also give the performance coupe an electric range of 93 miles.

Joakim Rydholm, Polestar’s chief test driver, will tackle the hillclimb in the prototype car. But, Polestar will also bring two production-spec models to the manufacturer area of the event for attendees to take a peek at the car ahead of its launch in mid-2019. Polestar said the Goodwood debut is part of the car’s ongoing real-world test program.

ALSO SEE: Polestar 1 Costs More Than BMW i8, Acura NSX

The brand only plans to build 500 examples of the 1 for three years, with production taking place at a new facility in Chengdu, China. Following the Polestar 1, the brand will move to become a battery-electric division. Polestar already has plans for its second model, fittingly called the Polestar 2. The second vehicle, also a sedan, will allegedly target the Tesla Model 3.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed opens on June 12 and runs through June 15. After the Polestar 1 wraps up its dynamic debut in the United Kingdom, the performance coupe will show face in North America for the first time at Monterey Car Week in California in August.

This article originally appeared on HybridCars.com

Sean Szymkowski
Sean Szymkowski

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