• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • The Rearview Mirror: "A Path Filled With Hardships"
  • Q&A: Volvo CEO Jim Rowan Talks Hitting Targets, Future Vehicles
  • FIA’s Formula E is Changing the Way We Look at Racing
  • Lexus Lifts the Covers Off New, Three-Row TX SUV
  • First Look: 2024 Lexus GX
  • GM Investing $500M in Texas Plant for Gas-Powered SUVs
  • New Battery Chemistry Promises Increased Range, Cell Life
  • Labor Unrest at West Coast Ports Threatens U.S. Automakers
  • Used Car Wholesale Prices Decline; Retail Prices Don't
  • Pandemic Accelerated Auto Dealers’ Shift to Digital-Oriented Sales Process
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2024 Chevrolet Trax Activ
    • A Week With: 2024 GMC Sierra 2500 Denali Ultimate
    • A Week With: 2023 Volkswagen Golf GTI 2.0 SE
    • A Week With: 2023 Kia Niro SX Touring
    • A Week With: 2023 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Estrema Q4
    • A Week With: 2023 Lexus NX 350h Luxury
    • A Week With: 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line
    • First Drive: 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander
    • A Week With: 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium RWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Electrified GV70 AWD Prestige
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automobiles > Volvo Relaunching Polestar as “Electrified High Performance” Company

        Volvo Relaunching Polestar as “Electrified High Performance” Company

        Polestar joins growing list of dedicated electric spin-offs.

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        June 22, 2017
        Going forward, the Polestar logo will stand alone, without a Volvo badge.

        Volvo has become the latest automaker to set up a separate operation focused specifically on electric vehicles, in this case, putting the emphasis on “high performance” models.

        The move appears to position its Polestar division to challenge the new Mercedes-EQ sub-brand, which is set to launch at least seven electric vehicles by 2022, and BMW i, as well as upstart battery-carmakers like Tesla, Faraday Future and Lucid. The announcement does not appear to preclude Volvo’s ability to produce less performance-oriented electric vehicles under its own badge.

        Electrifying News!

        Purchased by Volvo in 2015, Polestar will now operate as a standalone company with a new management team. That includes Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Gooding, who had been Volvo’s communications chief, and new Chief Executive Officer Thomas Ingenlath, who had been Volvo’s global design director.

        Reassigning Ingenlath, who had been overseeing the dramatic shift in Volvo’s styling language, “shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.

        New Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath had been in charge of Volvo design operations.

        Swedish-based Volvo itself was acquired by Zhejiang Geely in 2010, and has been taking the lead in the Chinese company’s ambitions to become a truly global automotive manufacturer. With a massive cash infusion from its new parent, Volvo has largely relaunched itself, starting with the well-reviewed XC90 sport-utility vehicle that was named North American Truck of the Year in 2016.

        (Volvo parent Geely takes controlling stake in Lotus, Proton. Click Here for the latest.)

        A key part of the strategy has been a shift to more advanced turbo, supercharged and hybrid powertrains. The top-line T8 Twin-Engine is a plug-in hybrid that gets 19 miles in all-electric mode in the XC90 and makes a combined 316 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque.

        Volvo officials have openly discussed plans to add a fully electric driveline to the product line-up. And it appears such a move is still in the works. The first of those vehicles is set to come to market in 2019. It is expected to deliver well in excess of 200 miles per charge and yet come in under $40,000, putting it in the same price segment as the new Tesla Model 3.

        While initial sales targets are modest, Volvo has said it believes it will be able to sell “up to 1 million electrified cars by 2025 globally.”

        Polestar will go after an entirely different audience. Under the new strategy, the Swedish maker explained, “Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high-performance electrified cars.”

        (EV makers compete for “world’s fastest” title. Click Here for more.)

        A line-up of current Volvo Polestar models.

        While the first generation of mass market electric vehicles typically focused on energy efficiency, at the expense of performance, that approach is beginning to shift. The growing success of the Tesla brand – especially for higher performance models such as the Model S P100d with Ludicrous Mode – has shown there’s a potentially sizable market for vehicles that are both mean and green.

        Indeed, even mainstream battery-based products are starting to put more emphasis on performance. But Polestar appears set to position Volvo to go up against more extreme players like Lucid and Faraday Future – both of which are targeting top speeds of around 200 mph, with 0 to 60 times in the low-2 second range. Then there’s Croatian-based Rimac Automobili, which landed in the news recently when one of its electric hypercars was wrecked by Richard Hammond, co-star of the Netflix series, “Grand Tour.”

        Unlike current models, the electric vehicles developed by Polestar will no longer carry the Volvo badge. And a statement by Ingenlath suggests that the new company will be targeting relatively high prices and low volumes, the new CEO expressing his excitement at “developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products.”

        Volvo and Polestar promise to reveal more of their plans in the coming months.

        (Why did Volvo buy Polestar in the first place? Click Here for our initial report.)

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published

        The Rearview Mirror: “A Path Filled With Hardships”

        Today
        FIA Formula E 2023 Jakarta teams on track REL

        FIA’s Formula E is Changing the Way We Look at Racing

        Yesterday
        2024 Lexus TX - debut front 3-4

        Lexus Lifts the Covers Off New, Three-Row TX SUV

        Yesterday

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: