Polestar 1 Makes Its European Debut At Geneva Motor Show 2018

Limited to 500 units a year, has Polestar undermined the 1s potential?

The Polestar 1, which made its global debut in China in late 2017, has finally been showcased to European audiences at the ongoing Geneva Motor Show 2018. Since it’s unveiling in China, Polestar, which used to be Volvo’s in-house performance brand but was later spun off to be an independent automaker under its Chinese owner’s Geely, said that it had received interest for more than 6,000 potential customers from all over the world. This has put Thomas Ingenlath, the CEO of Polestar, in a quandary.

That’s because the Polestar 1, which is slated to go into production in mid-2019, was supposed to be limited to just 500 units a year and there is likely to be a huge demand for it, especially from China and Europe. “With our current plans to produce 500 cars per year, it’s possible that we have exceeded our production potential in these early stages,” said Ingenlath. Volvo is set to open the order books for the coupe on March 13 for a refundable amount of €2,500 (a tad over Rs 2 lakh). The Polestar 1 will be the company’s halo product will carry a sticker price of €130,000 (Rs 1.04 crore) to €150,000 (Rs 1.2 crore, excluding import duty and local taxes). Polestar is now considering whether to running two shifts at its new manufacturing facility in China.

As for the car, we’ve already covered everything you need to know about it here. The Polestar 1 produces 608PS and 1000Nm of torque using a three electric motors and a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine. It is based on a modified version of Volvo’s SPA platform and features a carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) body. It’s light weight and massive torque output should surely put other sports coupes to shame!  

Source: zigwheels.com