Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC, or simply Polestar, is a Swedish automotive manufacturer that produces electric cars. Principally owned by Li Shufu's PSD Investment, Geely Holding and Volvo Cars, the company is headquartered in Torslanda, outside Gothenburg, Sweden.[7][8] With an "asset-light" approach in development and manufacturing, Polestar does not have its own manufacturing facility;[9] instead it produces cars in facilities controlled by Volvo or Geely in several countries, including China, the United States, and South Korea.[10][11] The brand originated from Flash Engineering, a Swedish motorsport team established in 1996 that competed in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. In 2005, the team was sold then rebranded to Polestar Racing, which later operated a production car tuning division called Polestar Performance AB.[12][13] In July 2015, the Polestar brand was acquired by Volvo Cars, which repositioned the brand as an electric vehicle manufacturer since 2017.[14] The racing team was then rebranded to Cyan Racing, while still maintaining close ties to Volvo.[15]
The current United Kingdom-based holding company of Polestar, Polestar Automotive Holdings UK PLC was jointly formed in 2021 by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding Group.[16][17] Polestar shares began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol PSNY on 24 June 2022.[18][19]
History
Racing team and tuning brand (1996–2017)
The company origins can be traced to the 1996 foundation of Flash Engineering, a Swedish racing team competing in Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC). The team was sold and rebranded as Polestar Racing, which began modifying Volvos for racing in the late 2000s. In 2009, the brand became the official Volvo partner to modify existing models, under the brand Polestar Performance. Volvo eventually bought the company in July 2015 and began selling Polestar-enhanced models directly through their resellers.[20]
Polestar has also produced prototype cars, with the first being the C30 Polestar Performance Concept Prototype (2010) with over 400 bhp and 510 Nm.[21] The Volvo S60 Polestar Concept is the heir to the C30 Polestar, featuring 508 BHP from a modified T6 engine, launched in June 2012.[22]
Corporate Leadership
Products
Current and future vehicles
Discontinued vehicles
Performance optimisation
Under the label Polestar Engineered, Polestar offers enhancements for Volvo cars which deliver upgraded performance. Examples are engine optimizations with retained warranty and unchanged fuel consumption and emissions. The engine optimization increases the power and torque output, varying depending on engine model. The response of the throttle can be modified and the character of the transmission is tweaked.
In 2022, a special version of Polestar 2 was released as a Polestar Engineered product: the limited-production Polestar 2 BST edition 270, of which only 270 will exist.[55]
Finances
As of December 2023, Polestar is a publicly traded company trading under the symbol PSNY on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Key figures:[56]
Racing
Polestar has been working with Volvo since 1996, starting with racing Volvo cars and being involved in the development of race cars for Cyan Racing. In 2014, Polestar was involved in the development of a V8 powered Volvo S60 that was raced by Garry Rogers Motorsport in the Australian V8 Supercars series.[57] Robert Dahlgren was seconded to Australia in 2014 as part of this programme and pulled out in the end of 2016.[58]
Logo dispute in France
In 2019, French brand Citroën alleged that the Polestar company logo – also formed of chevrons – is too close to those of its Citroën and DS Automobiles brands. In the absence of an amicable agreement, Citroën took to the Tribunal de grande instance in July 2019. The latter, in a decision dated 4 June 2020, found in favor of the French manufacturer,[59] a decision confirmed on appeal on 14 June 2020. As a result, from December 2021, Polestar vehicles cannot be purchased in France.[60] In September 2022, it was reported that Citroën and Polestar had settled their dispute.[61]
Other ventures
In August 2022, the company announced it would supply batteries and charging hardware to Candela for electric boats that would "fly" on hydrofoils.[62][63]
External links
References
- https://www.autonews.com/executives/hakan-samuelsson-retire-polestar-chairman/#:~:text=Polestar%20Chairman%20and%20former%20Volvo,almost%20a%20decade%20until%202022.^
- POLESTAR AUTOMOTIVE HOLDING UK PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk, retrieved 17 June 2024^
- Polestar publishes full year 2023 results Polestar Investors, 28 June 2024^