POLESTAR 2

With motorsport in its DNA, has Polestar cracked the electric driver’s car?

- Alex Grant

Perceptions of the electric car are changing. Not only are the latest crop of models offering the range, diversity of variants and design normality needed for mainstream appeal, but enthusiasts have spotted an extra perk attached to ditching the combustion engine. Quite aside from the environmental benefits, electric vehicles are becoming increasingly synonymous with speed. And, in Polestar’s case, that’s not only in a straight line.

It’s not so long ago that the battle for the top of the compact executive class was a trifecta of German brands, impenetrable even to familiar names until the Tesla Model 3 tipped the apple cart. Of course, BMW isn’t far from production with the iX4 four-door coupé, but the Californian insurgent’s closest competition comes from Polestar; the Swedish-Chinese electric sub-brand of Volvo, which had originally been its motorsport and performance tuning partner. Quite the change of fortunes.

This has happened quickly enough that the Polestar 2 predates the brand itself. Volvo hinted at its future compact car line-up in 2017, revealing a pair of concepts that a crystal ball might have suggested would become the XC40 and S40. Instead, the latter would become Polestar’s route to locking horns with the Model 3; it’s priced almost identically, offered with two battery packs and a Performance version, and arrives with an appetite for luring company car drivers out of the default options.