Volvo wants to compete with premium performance vehicles from BMW M,or Mercedes AMG. It already established its Polestar division, building fast cars. But this is not enough. The Swedish manufacturer decided to also built a special facility for its future Polestar cars.
Construction of its new Polestar Production Centre has started in Chengdu, China, where the company’s first model, the Polestar 1, will be produced. This follows the announcement of the new Polestar brand on the 17th October, and continues the momentum built from the launch.
The Polestar Production Centre is due for completion by mid-2018 to be ready to start tooling installation and pre-production testing – a nine-month construction plan.
The Polestar Production Centre, designed together with international award-winning architects Snöhetta from Norway, will be the most environmentally-responsible car factory in China, and one of the most efficient in the world, with a target of Gold status in the globally-recognised LEED ratings (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
The Polestar Production Centre will build the Polestar 1, a Grand Touring Coupe with a 600-hp Electric Performance Hybrid powertrain that also offers 150kms of pure electric range – the longest pure electric distance of any hybrid car in the world. Polestar is currently targeting to build a maximum of 500 units per year.
The Polestar Production Centre will also include a customer experience centre, staffed by product experts, as well as a customer test track constructed within the campus to enable potential customers to evaluate the car to the extremes not possible on public roads.
