Sweden-based Polestar debuted its first production EV and previewed its electric car line in New York. Polestar is a Volvo subsidiary which unveiled its Polestar 1, positioned less as a hybrid and more as a fully electric car to attract fence sitters to EVs.
This car will hit the streets in 2019 and will be priced around $155,000. It has 3 electrical motors powered by twin 34kWh battery packs and a turbo and supercharged gas V4 up front. It is the first in a series, with an all-electric Polestar 2 to debut in 2019.
“Polestar 2 will be a direct competitor to the Tesla Model 3…” CEO Thomas Ingenlath said while the launch event.
Also, he stated that the company will focus more on creating converts to EVs than pulling away Tesla’s existing market share. According to Ingenlath, Polestar 1 will be the company’s first and last electric and gas vehicle. “The future is electric. We will not do a hybrid car again,” he said.
The company aims to produce around 100,000 cars a year and scale-up further. The company oversubscribed orders for the Polestar 1 with 200 cars coming to North American buyers.