Volvo buys Polestar, aims to double sales

BMW M, Mercedes-AMG, Volvo's officially coming after you

Volvo S40 PolestarVolvo has bought the Swedish high performance car company Polestar and will now officially use it on high performance factory-built Volvo Polestar models.

Polestar and Volvo already collaborate on bespoke aftermarket performance versions of cars such as the V60 and S60: now, the brand will become a fully integrated part of future model planning.

It means Volvo now has a ready-made performance brand rival to BMW M and Mercedes-AMG.

The Geely-owned Swedish car company has bold aims for Volvo Polestar vehicles, too: it wants  to double sales in the medium term from today’s 750 cars, as well as enhancing the aftermarket Polestar performance kits already sold through Volvo dealers (it’s a ready-made alternative to BMW M Performance).

Volvo Polestar: plug-in hybrid performance

Hakan Samuelsson President CEO Volvo Car Group

Volvo Polestar aims to focus on plug-in hybrid technology to deliver interesting future performance cars, reveals the firm. Already the largest manufacturer of PHEVs in Europe, Volvo reckons its ‘twin engine’ electrification tech will create powerful performance cars that are also environmentally friendly.

The firm has also earlier revealed a 450hp 2.0-litre tri-boost engine concept that would give it a ready-made rival to the BMW M3 Saloon and M4 Coupe…

“Driving a Volvo Polestar is a special experience,” said HÃ¥kan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.

“We have decided to bring this experience to more Volvo drivers, placing the full resources of Volvo behind the development of Polestar as the model name for our high performance cars.”

All Polestar employees will now become Volvo employees under the deal, completed for an undisclosed sum.

Polestar racing to continue – but be renamed

The Polestar racing team will remain under founder Christian Dahl’s creation – and it will be renamed.

“We are extremely satisfied with the way the performance business with Volvo has developed,” said Dahl.

“But we are a racing team first and foremost. This is an opportunity to return our full attention to our core business – to develop and race Volvo cars.”

ALSO READ

Revealed: the top 10 least depreciating cars

Ford Galaxy review: 2015 first drive

Mazda MX-5 1.5 review: 2015 preview drive

Related Articles

Richard Aucock
Richard Aucockhttps://www.richardaucock.co.uk/
Richard is director at Motoring Research. He has been with us since 2001, and has been a motoring journalist even longer. He won the IMCO Motoring Writer of the Future Award in 1996 and the acclaimed Sir William Lyons Award in 1998. Both awards are run by the Guild of Motoring Writers and Richard is currently vice chair of the world's largest organisation for automotive media professionals. Richard is also a juror and Steering Committee director for World Car Awards and the UK juror for the AUTOBEST awards.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Find a Car Review

Latest

Kia EV9 is World Car of the Year 2024

The Kia EV9 is the latest pure electric car to be named World Car of the Year – and it also scooped the World Electric Vehicle 2024 prize

Salon Privé London to host three days of champagne and supercars

Salon Privé London returns to the Royal Hospital in Chelsea next month, with special celebrations of McLaren and the Porsche 911 Turbo.

New Volkswagen ID.Buzz GTX gets 340hp and all-wheel drive

The retro-styled ID. Buzz people carrier is now offered with 340hp, making for an unlikely addition to Volkswagen’s sporty GTX range.

How to protect your car with an OBD port locking device

We explain how to prevent your car being stolen by criminals targeting its On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port.