Polestar Strengthens Position as Individual Brand with New Factory in China

Polestar, which earlier used to be the Volvo subsidiary that dealt with the tuning of Volvo cars is strengthening its position as an individual carmaker with a new factory in China. Polestar recently broke ground for the new factory which is located in Chengdu, China and will serve as the assembly plant for all future Polestar models.

Volvo already has a factory in Chengdu and the new plant will comply with the rules that the Chinese government has for the production of vehicles in the country. Polestar and Volvo Cars Group will manufacture vehicles in a joint-venture between two Zhejiang Geely Holding Group companies. Geely is the company that owns the Volvo Cars Group.

Polestar has revealed that the new facility in Chengdu will be a state-of-the-art facility that will be positioned as the most environmentally-responsible car factory in China and one of the greenest vehicle production facilities at the global level. Polestar’s aim is to get the Gold status in the globally recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings once the construction of the factory is completed.

The new factory in Changdu will not only turn out Polestar branded vehicles, but will also house a customer experience center with a customer test track that will be staffed by product experts. The track will make it possible for customers to test the vehicles produced at the facility to their limits under conditions that are reasonably safe.

Polestar’s first model, the carbon-fiber bodied Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid sport coupe, is slated to have an output of 600 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. When it comes to range, it will have 93 miles of all-electric range.

Polestar is planning to introduce a unique ownership model with its first vehicle. The cars will be sold through subscriptions two or three years and the subscription will be an all-inclusive which involves no  down payment, only monthly payments.

Construction of the plant should be complete in mid-2018, and Polestar previously said it will be entirely operational in 2019. It will build just 500 Polestar 1 plug-in hybrids per year.