In the past, Polestar – Volvo’s performance brand – has been tasked with little more than souping-up existing Volvo models, strapping on chrome exhausts and cranking up the horsepower.

Although the results have been more than passable over the years (most notably the V60 Polestar), Polestar is sick of living in Volvo’s shadow and has decided to go it alone.

The first standalone model from the newly independent Polestar has just been revealed and it’s mighty impressive.

Electric first

Aptly named ‘Polestar 1’, the car is a two-door, four-seater grand tourer coupé powered by what Polestar are calling an ‘electric performance hybrid’ drivetrain. In regular English, it’s a hybrid, but it’s mega quick.

Rather than shoehorn an electric motor into a conventional petrol or diesel car, the Polestar 1 has been developed the other way round, serving as an electric car first but being supported by an internal combustion engine. This means it will have a pure electric range of 93 miles – the longest full electric range of any hybrid car on the market.

Meanwhile, the promise of performance is upheld by the car’s 591bhp power output and maximum torque of 1,000Nm.

Despite the divorce from Volvo, it will incorporate the Scalable Platform Architecture, which underpins the most recently launched Volvos like the second-gen XC90 and XC60. However, around half of the Polestar 1’s platform is newly developed by Polestar’s engineers.

What now?

Now we’ve seen the car, Polestar needs to build a facility where they can actually build the thing. Consequently, the car will be built in a new state-of-the-art, purpose-built Polestar Production Centre in Chengdu, China, which should be ready to roll from mid-2018.

Production of the actual Polestar 1 will begin in mid-2019, followed by a successor – the imaginatively named Polestar 2 – later that year. A larger SUV-style electric car – the Polestar 3 – is also in the pipeline.

If you like the cut of Polestar’s jib, you can order the new Polestar 1 from today, with Polestar able to take expressions of interest from prospective customers immediately.

Visit https://www.polestar.com/uk/ for more details.

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