New Polestar Production Centre Opens

The name Polestar may not be on your radar yet, but take note, the newest stand-alone vehicle manufacturer is charging fast with a full range of hybrid and electric vehicles. China is the world’s largest EV market and the upcoming product barrage by the joint venture of Volvo Car Group and Zhejiang Geely Holding is ready to challenge Tesla and all-comers in the EV market.

The new Polestar Production Centre in Chengdu, China is set to produce the Polestar 1 built on an exclusive carbon-fibre body. Delivering an expected 600 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque, it will be the most exclusive EV produced and sold in China when it arrives prior to the end of 2019.

Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar comments, “Here in Chengdu we are not only manufacturing a premium hybrid-electric performance car, we have also created an inspirational manufacturing environment, a great place to work and visit. It truly reflects the Polestar brand.

“We promised we would have our first production facility built in 2019, we promised cars would be delivered to customers this year, and we promised we would do things differently; once again we are delivering on our promises. This is a hugely proud moment for the whole team at Polestar.”

Celebrated architecture and design company, Snøhetta, is responsible for the all-new Chengdu production facility. Features include a test track, customer experience centre and glass viewing area of the factory.

“Designing Polestar’s first production facility has been a challenging and extremely rewarding project for us,” says Snøhetta’s co-founder, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen. “The innovative design of the interaction scheme aligns creative visionary processes with technical production requirements, setting a new standard for inclusive fabrication facilities.”

Five hundred Polestar 1 vehicles will be produced annually with a three-year run for a total of 1,500 vehicles. It highlights an impressive EV range of 150 km. Coming soon, the Polestar 2 is a higher-volume midsize sedan like the Tesla Model 3 which will be followed by the Polestar 3, a fully electric performance SUV.