How Volvo's Polestar is getting its debut model up to speed

BORAS, Sweden -- The Polestar 1’s initial production run will reach the Volvo subsidiary’s first customers later this year, which explains the intense amount of fine-tuning still going at the Hallered Proving Grounds, near Gothenburg.

“When it was supposed to be finished it was still not good enough,” said Roger Wallgren, with a smile, when discussing the car on the sidelines of the facility’s handling track during the first test-drives of the Polestar 1 by people outside of the Volvo Car Group. Automotive News Europe was invited to test the car on the track and local roads.

Wallgren, fellow chassis specialist Fredrik Lundqvist and their boss, Polestar 1 lead development engineer Joakim Rydholm, have no recollection of what a typical workday is anymore, and they couldn’t be happier. They want the Polestar 1 to set the ride and handling standard for a brand that didn’t officially exist two years ago.

The engineers have spent countless hours making sure the Polestar 1, a plug-in hybrid coupe with combined power of more than 600 hp and 1000 newton meters of torque, meets their high-expectations.

They, along with Polestar 1 Commercial Project Leader Sofia Björnesson, know what’s at stake with the brand’s debut model.

“It’s a halo product. If we don’t do this right …,”  Björnesson said without finishing the thought because she knows the ramifications. “But I’m not worried at all. We will make it. We are making it.”

There is a reason why Polestar is confident. Rydholm, Lundqvist and Björnesson were all part of Polestar during its short-lived iteration as Volvo’s answer to BMW M and Mercedes-AMG.

In July 2015, Volvo acquired 100 percent of Polestar Performance. Prior to the purchase Polestar was an independent tuning firm that Volvo hired to jointly develop high-performance versions of its vehicles.

Fast forward to June 21, 2017. That is the day Volvo announced that instead of competing against Mercedes-AMG it would turn Polestar into a stand-alone brand that would be a rival to Tesla and BMW i subbrand. The closest competitor the Polestar 1 has is the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid.

“We can still be that competitor [to the German premium brands’ successful tuning divisions], we will just use electric performance vehicles instead,” Björnesson said. “We have been working and struggling with this [the Polestar 1] for almost four years and now it’s a reality. It’s here.”

When asked what she was happiest about as the car nears completion she pointed to the team’s relentless pursuit of performance. “They have never given up on tuning a great chassis. We are still working on that, tuning millimeters and micrometers. We want to have a car that defines what Polestar Performance is all about.”