Polestar, the new electric performance brand of Volvo Cars, announced the initial launch markets for its first car, the Polestar 1, in the United States and China and Western Europe.
Since its launch in October, Polestar has seen customers line up for the new Polestar 1 subscription with both performance enthusiast and electric car fans depleting the early production slots available.
By offering its vehicles, starting with the Volvo XC40 for a flat monthly subscription, Polestar expects to step away from the old-school, dealer-focused method of selling cars and adopted the model used to great success by Netflix and Spotify.
Other car firms, Porsche, Lincoln and General Motors, are experimenting with subscription services in limited geographical area. However, Polestar could become the first brand to exist largely as an online-only enterprise.
(Volvo begins production on Polestar plant in China. Click Here for the story.)
The first markets where Polestar will open a Polestar Space – an environment where customers can physically interact with the brand – will be the U.S., China, Germany, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.
The Polestar Spaces open by the middle of 2019 and the countries have been selected, in part, due to the initial customer demand in those markets. More countries will be added at a later date.
During the brand’s launch day in October, one customer per minute was registering interest in being one of the first to receive the Polestar 1 using an all-new subscription model. Expressions of interest are made through www.polestar.com and these will be converted to vehicle orders when the formal order books for the Polestar 1 open in early 2018.
The Polestar 1 and all future Polestar cars will be offered using the new subscription model. The no-deposit, all-inclusive monthly payment delivers hassle-free usage and covers insurance, depreciation, collection and delivery for inclusive servicing, and various on-demand benefits as-and-when required.
(Click Here for details about Volvo’s plans to go all-electric.)
The Polestar 1, the first car with the Polestar logo, is a 2+2 Grand Touring Coup with a 600 horsepower electric performance hybrid power train with the ability to travel 150 kilometers on pure electric power alone — the longest range on electric power of any hybrid in the world.
Production of the Polestar 1 will start in mid-2019 in a new Polestar Production Center in Chengdu, China, where construction has already started.
Porsche Passport has already launched in Atlanta, Georgia.
Monthly subscription costs $2,000 for the entry-level Launch package, which provides access to eight models, including the 718 Boxster, 718 Cayman, the Cayenne and the Macan.
(Volvo’s Polestar unveils first electric model. For the story, Click Here.)
Included in the price are registration, insurance and maintenance. The cars can be delivered or picked up by the subscriber, with same-day pick-ups or future arrangements available through the app.
