Volvo Cars has acquired 100 percent of Polestar, the Swedish high performance car company, including the Polestar brand. Polestar will now be used as the model name for special high performance Volvos.
Polestar will also in future utilize Volvo’s twin engine electrification technology to develop next generation performance cars. That’s a reference to the plug-in hybrid systems in the latest XC90. It’s likely that Polestar will take a similar set-up but retune it for higher performance, perhaps at the expense of some of the system’s electric-only range, or use the powertrain in its existing form in smaller vehicles that will follow on the XC90’s Scalable Product Architecture platform.
Volvo is the largest manufacturer of plug in hybrid cars in Europe and leader in advanced vehicle electrification technology. Volvo currently develops and manufactures some of the most powerful, most environmentally-friendly hybrid engines in the automotive industry.
Volvo and Polestar share a long history. They have been working in motor sport since 1996 and in recent years signed a cooperation agreement to jointly develop Polestar versions of Volvo cars that combine a comfortable Volvo driving experience with a very high level of power and handling.
“Driving a Volvo Polestar is a special experience. 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,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
In 2015, Volvo expects to sell 750 Polestar versions of the V60 wagon and S60 sedan globally. Polestar sales are forecast to increase to between 1,000 and 1,500 cars a year in the medium term under Volvo’s ownership.
The Polestar brand is already firmly established internationally through the sale of Polestar-branded Volvos. Volvo will also benefit from the sale of aftermarket Polestar performance optimisation kits for existing Volvos.
No financial details of the deal have been disclosed. Existing Polestar Performance employees will become Volvo employees.
