Polestar 1 sets standard for 2-year-old brand

Polestar's engineering and marketing teams know what's at stake with the brand's debut model. "It's a halo product. If we don't do this right ...," Polestar 1 Commercial Project Leader Sofia Bjornesson said without finishing the thought because she knows the ramifications. "But I'm not worried at all. We will make it."

The Polestar 1's initial production run of 500 units will reach the Volvo subsidiary's first customers later this year, which is why the brand's chassis and development specialists have spent so much of this year fine-tuning the car at the Hallered Proving Grounds and on local roads near Gothenburg.

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."

To create that definition the team has had its share of tough decisions to make. "We initially planned to have electronically controlled dampers," chassis specialist Roger Wallgren said of having an active damping system that could be adjusted from inside the car by choosing a setting on a touchscreen. "But it didn't live up to our expectations. What we have is the more hardcore choice."

The Polestar 1 has a dual flow valve solution from Ohlins that makes it possible for the driver to adjust the dampers by plus or minus 20 percent by turning a gold-colored knob that is under the hood of the car. "It was not an easy decision because there was a lot of market pressure" to have a solution that could be adjusted inside the car, Wallgren said.

Another challenge came when picking the tires. Polestar 1 lead development engineer Joakim Rydholm worked with Pirelli on the specifications. Typically, it takes two rounds of work to get the compound, layers, tread, etc. to the point where the solution will work. Anything more than that gets very expensive. Rydholm said Polestar needed four rounds to get the tires exactly the way he wanted them.

Launch date: Fourth quarter 2019

Base price: 155,000 euros

Where built: Chengdu, China

Main rival: BMW i8

Engine: The Polestar 1's 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged and supercharged engine combined with its 34 kWh battery offers combined power of more than 600 hp and 1000 newton meters of torque. The model also has an electric-only range of 125km under the WLTP test cycle.

Torsional stiffness: Polestar was able to increase the car's torsional stiffness by 45 percent by using carbon fiber instead of steel in the body. The added stiffness has improved handling
and driving dynamics.

Torque vectoring: There are two electric motors on the rear axle that run individually. While cornering the motors are take readings from the steering wheel and accelerator, giving that data back to the motors so they, for example, speed up the outer wheel to make the car much quicker around a turn.

Well balanced: Polestar says 48 percent of the Polestar 1's weight is in the front and 52 percent is in the rear. This was possible because the turbocharged/supercharger gasoline direct-injection engine is in the front and the batteries are in the back. Since car has carbon fiber in the top hat, the center of gravity is close to the road, which results in better driving dynamics.