Volvo has put out its intentions to jump into the big league of sports car manufacturers with the stand alone launch of its Polestar brand. The first car to be born of this independent venture is the Polestar 1. It’s a hybrid coupe and adds the desirability factor to the other safe and slightly conservative image of Volvo that it has acquired over the last few years.
We gave you some of the scoops when the car was unveiled and here then are our top five highlights of the car.
1. 600bhp hybrid powertrain
Keeping in line with its aim to move into EV and hybrid technology, this Polestar 1 makes use of petrol engine as well as electric motors to provide a total output of 600bhp and 1000Nm of torque! In addition you also get a battery setup that gives the car a pure electric range of 150km.
2. Carbon fibre body
It’s underpinned by Volvo’s SPA architecture and platform but is made wholly from carbon fibre. This has made the Polestar 1 quite light but improves the torsional stiffness by 45 per cent as compared to the standard car.
3. Numbers game is spot on
The hybrid heart and carbon fibre body have done wonders for the Polestar 1’s performance figures. It does the 0-100kmph sprint in 5.2 seconds and will then go on to hit a top speed of 250kmph. We believe this will be even higher if you show the car a bit of race track.
4. To get smaller coupe and SUV siblings
This Polestar 1 will be joined by a smaller coupe and an SUV by 2021. These models are a part of the parent company Geely’s plans to expand the range. They will all be built at a new factory in Chengdu in China on the back of a 752 million dollar investment from the Chinese automaker.
5. Sporty looks with classy interiors
In this race to be sporty and push out Lamborghini like performance, Volvo has not lost the plot. You do still get the leather lined interiors with all the Volvo touches and most importantly, that massive touchscreen which should now display stuff like G-Forces and boost pressure.