Volvo’s Polestar to deliver standalone, Polestar-badged ELECTRIC performance cars

Volvo’s Polestar performance division is to deliver a range of Polestar-badge electrified performance cars as Volvo seeks to tap in to Premium electric performance car sales.

Volvo, rightly or wrongly, has committed its future to a range of 2.0 litre, four-cylinder and 1.5 litre three-cylinder engines, limiting potential performance options to adding electrical assistance to increase performance and/or turning up boost as far as it will go.

But it looks like Volvo is now moving to emulate Mercedes’ decision to build standalone performance AMG cars – like the AMG GT – with the revelation that its performance division, Polestar, is to build standalone electrified performance cars, cars which will carry just the Polestar badge, not Volvo.

We doubt Polestar’s cars will be entirely bespoke, but will be based on Volvo’s new platforms, although with, we assume, extensive visual differences.

In a sign of just how seriously Volvo and Geely are taking the plan to make Polestar a maker of standalone electrified performance cars, Thomas Ingenlath, currently Volvo Design Senior VP, will move to Polestar as CEO, with Jonathan Goodman, currently Volvo’s Corporate Communication man, moving to be COO at Polestar.

Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo CEO, said:

Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars. With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.

We’re assuming ‘Electrified Cars’ means both plug-in hybrids and BEVs, but we won’t know more until Polestar deliver their plans.

But they do say they will reveal more in the Autumn, which suggest the first Polestar Performance Car could arrive at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.