Volvo’s Polestar 1 heads back to China after Winter testing (video)

Volvo has been out testing the Polestar 1 – Polestar’s first car – in Sweden, and now it’s heading back to China for a public debut at the Beijing Motor Show next week.

The Polestar 1 – the first car for Volvo’s now standalone Polestar brand – was revealed to the world in Shanghai last year.

With a plug-in hybrid powertrain good for 600bhp – and up to 100 miles on electric alone – the Polestar 1 is a cracking looking car with lots of performance potential and although it’s a bit pricey it looks set to sell well and, despite initially not planned to be offered in the UK at launch, UK buyers will now be able to place their orders for the Polestar 1, although only in LHD.

Now the Polestar 1 is in the public domain and heading for production, Volvo has been out winter testing in Sweden to ensure the car behaves as you’d want it to – even at stupidly sub-zero temperatures – with the slippery conditions allowing the test drivers to refine the chassis balance and focus on the Polestar 1’s torque vectoring setup using its two rear electric motors.

Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, said:

Besides being very happy with the balance of the chassis, they [the test drivers] are particularly excited about the torque vectoring. We are now very confident about how this enhances the Polestar 1’s cornering responsiveness and accuracy. This is a driver’s car. We have now passed a major milestone in the development of the Polestar 1, and prototype testing continues throughout 2018.

Now the Polestar 1 is heading back from Sweden to China, where it will be on view to the public at the Beijing Motor Show to grab the attention of China’s buyers – a big market for Polestar, especially once they start delivering the Polestar 2 and 3 which will be pure EVs.

Polestar 1 Photo Gallery

Polestar 1 Winter testing Video