Polestar, Volvo’s official performance arm, announced back in June that it would offer Polestar-branded cars without a Volvo logo, as well as begin to develop performance electric cars, à la Tesla. Yesterday, the company took to its Instagram account to announce the end of... something. Perhaps Polestar-tuned Volvo cars?
Volvo’s press release from June on the matter read,
Volvo Cars acquired 100 per cent of Polestar Performance in July 2015, having worked together in motorsport since 1996. In the future, Polestar will offer Polestar branded cars that will no longer carry a Volvo logo, as well as optimisation packages for Volvo’s range of cars under the Polestar Engineered brand.
Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world beating electrified high performance cars.
So, it seems like you’d still be able to get “Polestar Engineered” sporty Volvos, but Polestar itself will have its own performance-oriented cars. Likewise, Polestar cars seem like they will still utilize Volvo resources.
When reached for comment, a Volvo spokesperson confirmed that Polestar will be an independent brand within Volvo, which appears similar to the relationship between Mercedes and AMG.
Once independent, AMG was absorbed into Daimler and was put to work, throwing hammers into the engine bays of otherwise ordinary Mercedes-Benz models and giving them more power and performance than they reasonably should. (Where Mercedes-AMG is today is another conversation for another time.)
This move would fit Volvo’s push for electrification of its models after 2019. I’m totally on board for this, as long as the cars still come in that sweet Swedish racing green.