Volvo is on a roll, as of late. Its recent entries into multiple premium segments, including the Volvo XC40, XC90 and S90 sedan, have been incredibly impressive and sales for the Swedish brand have never been better. Now, its performance offshoot, Polestar, is developing its own cars and its latest announcement is something that could get quite interesting — the Polestar 2 EV.
What is the Polestar 2 EV, you might ask? According to the COO of Polestar, who spoke with Autocar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Polestar 2 EV will be an all-electric car designed to take on the Tesla Model 3 and, whenever we learn what it is, the upcoming electric BMW 3 Series. It’s also said to have around 400 hp and have an electric range of 350 miles.
“That will represent the lower ‘bookend’ of our showroom range and, for now, it should give us as much access to the volume end of the EV market as we need.” said Polestar COO Jonathan Goodman.
While the other Polestar vehicle, the Polestar 1, is a sleek looking coupe, this Polestar 2 EV will be similar to the 40.2 Concept from last year, which was a sort of jacked up sedan. This, said Goodman, is the car that Polestar feels will launch it more into the mainstream of electric vehicles.
Goodman also claimed that launching electric sub brands, mainly ones built on funky styling or futuristic gimmicks, which seems like a straight shot at the i Division, is a bad idea. “The global electric car market was worth four million units in 2017,” Goodman said, “but it’s quite widely expected to be worth 29m units by 2025. EV owners will come from all walks of life. So it’s a mistake to assume that, because the cars are electric, you have to make them quirky or futuristic.”
So Goodman claims that Polestar will be making a solid, good looking electric car that won’t be gimmicky or designed to look like something from the future. And after seeing the Polestar 1, we don’t doubt that. “Other brands may be doing that, but if we’re looking at a market worth 30m cars within seven years, it isn’t going to be niche, it’s going to be mainstream. So you just design a great-looking car – not one with a big blue flash down the side.”
After all the recent success of Volvo, we have no reason to doubt the Swedes. We’re excited to see what becomes of the Polestar 2 EV and we hope it’s a great little electric car. The more great EVs we have on the market, the better the rest of them will get. Competition breeds excellence and this new Polestar seems plenty competitive.
[Source: Autocar]
