The Polestar 1 is an achingly beautiful coupe that will be the first stand-alone vehicle for the newly formed performance brand. On Monday Polestar released select details about the car's carbon-fiber structure, the first news about the structure since the car officially broke cover in October 2017.
Carbon fiber is light-weight reinforced polymer that is stronger, stiffer, lighter, more expensive, and far more complicated to use in vehicle construction than steel. Polestar said the use of carbon fiber over steel in the coupe's construction will save more than 500 pounds.
Polestar 1
Marking the first time Volvo Car Group has implemented carbon fiber construction, nearly the entire Polestar 1's body structure will be made from the reinforced polymer, including the hood, trunk, side body panels, doors, and roof. The use of carbon fiber also allowed Polestar to give the coupe a much lower roofline, which helps its gorgeous profile.
The Polestar 1 will be the first car to be built as a standalone brand split off from Volvo. It will be powered by an all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid powertrain based on Volvo's T8 hybrid twin-engine setup that currently makes 400 horsepower in a variety of models. In the Polestar 1, the turbocharged and supercharged engine will be connected to an 8-speed automatic transmission and a pair of rear-mounted electric motors for a combined output of 600 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. Battery size hasn't been shared yet, but Polestar has quoted 93 miles of electric driving range.
Stopping power will come courtesy of massive 15.7-inch rotors with 6-piston calipers, while Öhlins' continously variable electronic dampers will smooth out the road and aid agility.
Only 500 Polestar 1s are planned for production, though that number might increase above 1,500 as global demand has far exceeded Polestar's planned production run. A final decision hasn't been made, but there's plenty of time as production, set for China, won't begin until 2019.
Originally planned as a subscription-only experience, Polestar will also sell some cars to those who so desire. The Swedish performance brand set the price at $155,000 back in April. The company began accepting deposits of $2,500 with pre-orders also in April.
