No less than 20 anti-roll bars, no driver-support systems whatsoever for the test drive to feel the chassis as best as possible, and a top speed of 200 km/h. On snow. At -25 degrees Celsius in Sweden, just north of the Arctic Circle. As you can tell from this trickle of information, the Polestar 1 is edging closer to production reality.
Regarding the anti-roll bars mentioned beforehand, ten of them are up front and the other ten take care of the rear axle. “Each bar has a 0.5-millimeter difference in diameter” according to Polestar, ranging from “20 to 25 millimeters.” In other words, the Polestar 1 isn’t a Volvo S90 with fewer doors and the most advanced plug-in hybrid system in the world. It’s the real deal, down to the smallest detail.
Regarding production, Polestar will manufacture the 1 in Chengdu, China starting mid-2019. Tooling for the state-of-the-art factory will begin in mid-2018, with Polestar also mentioning the start of pre-production tests. So to speak, those well-to-do people who have put a deposit on the 1 will have to wait a year – at the very least – to take delivery of the first-ever model from the standalone Polestar brand.
Pricing is still an unknown for the time being, with estimates pegging the 1 at €130,000 to €150,000 for the most basic of available trim levels. But then again, the prohibitive sticker price should get the customer a lot of standard equipment, as well as 600 ponies and an earth-shattering 1,000 Nm (738 pound-feet) of torque.
Three electric motors and a supporting combustion engine (2.0-liter turbocharged and supercharged four-cylinder) make up the powertrain. In terms of electric driving range, Polestar quotes 150 kilometers (93 miles), thus putting the 1 in a league of its own. But that’s not all there is to expect from the Swedish automaker.
By the end of 2019, the Tesla Model 3-rivaling Polestar 2 will start production at the Chengdu facility. In 2020, the Polestar 3 will follow in the form of an SUV.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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