Volvo says it will soon be in the position to take on the likes of Mercedes-AMG and BMW M with its Polestar arm, although the Swedish brand is adamant that it won’t simply copy the Germans’ recipe.
In fact, Lex Kerssemakers, Volvo Cars North America president and CEO, told motoring.com.au that electrification would play a key role in future Polestar performance products (which makes sense, since Volvo is currently interested in producing only engines with four cylinders or fewer).
“We’re still in the stage of realising how we can leverage Polestar as a marketing tool and what type of cycle plan will launch with it,” Kerssemakers told the Australian publication.
“We know it will be about performance cars but they should reflect what we stand for from a drivetrain perspective. So, electrification will play an extremely important role in future when we talk about Polestar cars,” he explained.
Kerssemakers told motoring.com.au that he had studied the likes of Mercedes-AMG and BMW M, but added that the Swedish brand planned to take on these rivals in its own way.
“In the end, we are Volvo and we go our own way. Copycat does not make any sense. We’re not going to make the ultimate racing car; we want to make performance cars that are useable day in and day out, and that’s what Polestar reflects.
“Electrification excites me because you can offer different levels of performance in different ways. Electrification gives you a lot of ‘yeah’, you know? The linear performance.
“Believe me, there is a lot to come from Polestar,” he added.
