Volvo Car Corporation has acquired Polestar Performance – its official performance partner – after almost two decades of alliance to create high performance Volvo cars. They will be sold under the Polestar badge. The move to integrate the performance division seems natural when we look at the likes of Mercedes – AMG, BMW – M Division et al.
Polestar started off with building race machines based on Volvo cars back in 1996, with Swedish race driver Jan ‘Flash’ Nilsson at the helm. Polestar, since then, has had a successful run at the Swedish Touring Car Championship with the latest being a hat-trick of championships from 2012 to 2014.
Polestar’s foray into passenger cars was marked by the C30 Polestar concept back in 2010. Powered by the 2.5L turbocharged T5 engine, the three-door four-wheel-drive performance hatchback made all the right noises. The 508bhp S60 Polestar, the C30 successor that has been sold since 2013, has broken many records and won accolades for its performance and capabilities.
With Polestar now being a part of Volvo, we can expect the number of Polestars to shoot up globally while we prepare ourselves for the long wait to see the cool blue tarmac burners grace the Indian soil.