Polestar Precept will go into production at new plant

Polestar has reversed course on the Precept sedan, deciding to turn what was originally billed as a "vision" of the brand's future into a production model.

It will take three years to complete development of the brand's future flagship grand tourer, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told Automotive News Europe.

The production car will be underpinned by the second generation of parent Volvo Cars' Scalable Product Architecture, SPA2.

Polestar decided to produce the Precept after the overwhelmingly positive response it received after the concept debuted in February.

"That is when we started to ask: ‘What would it take to make it a reality'?" Ingenlath said during a video chat from Beijing ahead of the opening of the auto show there. "Now it's no longer a vision, it's a challenging goal, which makes it something to strive to reach."

Ingenlath said he wants the production version of the car to be as close as possible its first iteration, which has:

• Cameras instead of side mirrors and a wide light blade at the rear that spans the width of the car both to enhance aerodynamics
• A front end that has been turned to a so-called SmartZone to house radar sensors, a high-definition camera as well as other driver assistance equipment
• A spot in the roof for a lidar system.
• Sustainable materials that include flax-based composites for interior panels and seatbacks
• Seat surfaces from recycled PET bottles
• A next-generation infotainment system from its collaboration with Google with advanced eye-tracking and proximity sensors to deliver information in a more controlled manner.

Polestar will produce the Precept in China at a new facility, where the aim is to make production carbon neutral and for the plant to be "one of the most intelligent and connected automotive production facilities in the world," the company said.

The brand's Polestar 2 is built in a factory it shares with Volvo in Luqiao, China. The plant produced 26 metric tons of CO2.

Ingenlath has already asked his team just how low Polestar can get the CO2 number when the production version of the Precept starts rolling out of the new plant.

"Perhaps doing what we are doing now with the Precept will take us to half [13 metric tons of CO2], but I really don't know. That is why I asked them to calculate what is possible," he said. "It is a long journey, but if we don't start this now we will never make it to zero."

Polestar has already had success in slashing carbon production at its factory in Chengdu, where the Polestar 1 is made. Since last year the plant has gotten 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy such as hydro, solar and wind power.