Polestar is a new electric carmaker poised to enter the North American market next year, with a dealership in San Diego County. But the brand is sending a clear message that it won’t be the usual automotive business.
The Polestar name will be new to many, but the brand’s chief of U.S. operations likes to call it a 91-year-old startup.
Long known as the performance brand for Volvo Cars, Polestar has evolved to become the EV division for Volvo and its parent company, Geely, a Chinese auto group that bought Volvo (established in 1927) from Ford Motor in 2010.
“It is a t venture that won’t have the usual automotive format,” Greg Hembrough, head of Polestar in the Americas, said in a phone interview after a recent stop in town, during a six-stop North American tour to promote the cars.
“Polestar has always been synonymous with performance,” Hembrough said, “but now it will be a modern take on performance and what we feel electrification will be.”
Polestars 1 and 2
At launch, there will be two enger cars, Polestar 1 and 2, with a crossover coupe, Polestar 3, expected in mid-2022.
Sales of the Polestar 1 and 2 are expected to begin in two stages next year, with assembly in China. But pricing should not be affected, based on what is currently going on with tariffs, Hembrough said.
The limited-edition Polestar 1 is a 600-horsepower, all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid, starting at $155,000. The sleek, four-seat coupe has two electric motors to power the rear wheels and a gasoline engine to power the front wheels. Cars can be ordered now with deliveries expected in late spring 2020, Hembrough said.
The battery-electric Polestar 2 is a 408-hp, five-door hatchback with two electric motors (all-wheel drive) and a 78-kWh battery pack for a driving range targeting 275 miles. Deliveries are expected to begin in July 2020 with a well-equipped starting price of $63,000, not including federal or state incentives. Only two options will be available, a performance package and a leather interior.
Standard equipment includes a vegan interior, panoramic sunroof, phone-as-key access, radar-based collision mitigation, driver-assist technologies, regenerative braking and embedded Android infotainment technology.
“We have utilized a lot of the Google architecture,” Hembrough said. “Android Assistance can be used in the car, including Google Maps, but the system will be Apple or Android interchangeable.”
The Polestar 2 s a growing segment of EVs in the $60,000-$90,000 price range, including the Jaguar iPace, Audi e-tron, Tesla Model 3 and the just-debuted Porsche Taycan.
The buying experience will be more like Tesla than a traditional automaker. As a separate brand from Volvo, Polestar has its own identity and can sell vehicles outside of Volvo retailers, Hembrough said. “But we always will use a Volvo dealer as a partner,” he said.
Concierge service
A local dealer will have a Polestar space of about 2,000 square feet but no inventory. Cars will be delivered and serviced through the dealer, which at press time had not be determined for San Diego; there are three Volvo dealers in the county.
Ownership will include concierge services for complete pickup and delivery service, “with an app to handle all details, from a loaner to delivery,” Hembrough said. “Consumers value free time more than price.”
To see and touch the cars, Hembrough said they will be presented where consumers shop, dine and entertain.
“We will use ‘high catchment or footfall areas,’ such as a downtown restaurant or shopping mall,” he said.
More Chinese EV brands
There will be much more China-based EV competition in the near future. Brands planning to enter the U.S. market include BYTON, BYD, Mullen Technologies and Zotye USA.
The t venture with Volvo and Geely brought a lot of learning and a lot of experience, Hembrough said. “It has a strong Volvo legacy — the dealer network, credibility, design, engineering safety and manufacturing,” he said.
In the Geely portfolio, this is the electric car division, Hembrough said.
Conquesting buyers
While Volvo now sells several models of plug-in hybrids, Hembrough said Polestar does not want to cannibalize Volvo customers. He is expecting to conquest buyers ready to transition from an internal-combustion engine to an EV.
To find a sustainable source of buyers in this price range will take time, said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal and GreenCarJournal.com.
“It is hard to bury the cost of batteries in low-end cars and automakers are losing money on every one, so it’s no mystery why we are seeing higher-end sales,” he said in a phone interview. “But we’re still not seeing greater acceptance.
“Consumers need to be better educated,” he said. “With hybrids, plug-ins and EVs, so many people don’t understand what that means — and that is an impediment to the acceptance of EVs.”
The goal for EV makers will be to convert buyers of conventional cars to electric, Cogan said.
“It has been a slow start, but the luxury market has been there a long time and a segment of those buyers will be attracted to something shiny and new with better environmental performance,” he said.
Volvo is an established and well-respected brand and the affiliation will be helpful to Polestar, he said. “You would expect them to come out strong and create a following.”
San Diego EV Day
The EV curious will be able to test-drive multiple cars in a nonselling environment at the seventh annual San Diego EV Day, Sept. 14, in Liberty Station (SDGEnews.com). The day is part of National Drive Electric Week (driveelectricweek.org), which will hold 307 events in major cities across the U.S.
Acceptance of EVs will build, Hembrough said, “as (driving) range grows, as performance grows and, most importantly to me, as the charging infrastructure grows.”
In the meantime, Polestar will continue to lend its performance to Volvo, Hembrough said, “but now we are fully focused on EV performance and handling.”
