Teaser shots are often pretty unimaginative, offering either an absurdly zoomed-in close-up of some trivial detail of a car or some form of a profile shot with surface detail obscured by darkness. Thus we have to give Volvo’s Polestar credit in this puzzle-shaped preview of what is likely an electric or electrified luxury coupe. Polestar has been releasing small segments of its first concept car via its Instagram account, which now paint a partial picture of the finished product.
Scheduled to be unveiled in Shanghai on Oct. 17, the mystery concept will certainly be electrified in some way — Polestar is now Volvo’s electric car sub-brand — and will almost certainly be a coupe, likely in the style of the Concept Coupe shown by Volvo at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. The 2013 concept showcased the talents of Volvo designer Thomas Ingenlath, who was new to the automaker at the time, while also giving the world a glimpse at the latest Volvo design themes. Ingenlath is now the CEO of Polestar itself, so it makes sense that the brand’s first model may follow up on themes revealed in Frankfurt in 2013.
The 2013 Volvo Concept Coupe previewed a model that has been absent from Volvo’s lineup for some time now.
Volvo uses Polestar to go after Tesla, BMW i
Volvo will challenge Tesla Motors and BMW’s i subbrand by turning its Polestar unit into a global stand-alone brand for high-performance electrified models. “With Polestar, we are able …
While we’ll have to wait another week to find out just what will power the first Polestar concept — it could use Volvo’s T8 PHEV powertrain — it’s clear the new brand has Tesla in its sights, even though Polestar didn’t start out that way. An outside tuning house that was purchased by Volvo, Polestar is currently being transformed into a premium performance and electric marque that will not wear the Volvo badge but will trade on being designed and backed by Volvo.
“We want to redefine the brand, moving it away from having gasoline-powered cars to offering electrification and something that we call progressive performance,” Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Automotive News earlier this year.