Volvo is a brand that encapsulates rugged reliability. They have built a reputation for making some of the safest and most capable workhorses that remained stylish and comfortable.
Volvo as a brand has evolved, and their sister company Polestar has been making quite a stir in the world of EV's over the last couple of years. It seems that with the new direction, Volvo is taking its years of experience in comfort and safety and injecting it with new life through this project.
Polestar is also a performance division for Volvo, their equivalent to a BMW M, or Mercedes-AMG. With this being said, we already know some of the crazy one-off cars that the Polestar brand has been responsible for such as the S60 Polestar and Top Gear's favorite hot hatch that never was the C30 Polestar.
So, when Polestar announced a new fully electric vehicle, it's no surprise that the result was one with a clean aesthetic and one that presents itself as an elegant and minimal competitor to Tesla. With sustainable materials and sophisticated design, the Polestar Precept concept car is an amazing showcase of Swedish design.
Polestar's Sporty Beginnings
The company began as Flash Engineering in 1996. It was a Swedish racing team competing in Swedish Touring Car Championship. It was later sold and rebranded as Polestar Racing, which then started to engineer their own Volvo's specifically for racing in the late '00s.
Then, In 2009 the brand became the official Volvo performance arm of Volvo, giving them full access to modify existing Volvo models, under the brand Polestar Performance. Volvo eventually went on to buy the company in 2015, and it began offering Polestar models directly to its customers.
Fast forward to 2017, where Polestar announces the launch of the Polestar 1. A sport-luxury 2+2 coupe that had taken inspiration from Volvo's Concept Coupe from 2013, and to the surprise of the public it wasn't a race car for the road.
New Direction
The Polestar 1 boasts a hybrid-electric drivetrain, with a combined power figure of 600 HP and a whopping 740lbf- ft of torque which get out down by two rear 110 HP motors. The 1 has a 34 kWh battery that will reach a range of 93 miles in electric-only mode.
Following the initial success, Polestar announced the launch of the Polestar 2 in 2019. This time it would be fully electric and have a 1 speed fixed gear transmission. The styling remained quite the same, and we were beginning to learn the aesthetics of the new polestar direction.
Then in February of 2020, they announced their new concept car, the Polestar Precept car, the best looking one yet. The plan was to show it at the Geneva Motorshow, however, with it being canceled due to Covid-19, they were unable to do so.
Instead, they resorted to presenting it via youtube from their Gothenburg HQ. What was presented was an elegant, sportier bigger brother to the Polestar 1 and 2.
The Precept has a relatively long wheelbase of 122 inches and has no B-pillars, something which creates an incredibly airy and spacious interior. Its main design focuses are on sustainability, for the interior Polestar selected materials utilizing flax, recycled plastic bottles, and recycled cork and vinyl. The extent of the minimalism and athleticism are also very evident in the design.
Lidar technology has been incorporated into the roof, and there is even an additional sensor called the "SmartZone" that uses dual radar and high-definition video cameras which have been built into the front instead of a grille. along with his, the side and rear-view mirrors have all been replaced with cameras.
The innovation and creativity behind Polestar have really shone through in their latest concept. It is understated Swedish elegance. Along with the breathtaking design, the commitment to using more environmentally friendly recyclable materials such as carpets made from fishing nets and seats made from PET is a great step forward.
The interior is completely vegan, but this is not just due to wanting to be eco-friendly. The materials used such as Bcomp organic composite fibers are actually half of the weight of straight plastic.
The same as all of the future Polestar models, the Precept is a fully electric vehicle, and it uses that long wheelbase to hold a massive battery pack, that would ensure a significant range. As for stats and figures, Polestar hasn't said anything yet, but as it's still in the concept car stage, so it's not that important.
For now, the Polestar 1 and 2 have been receiving huge praise. An extremely capable car around the Nürburgring and a true competitor for Teslas EV empire.
It seems that Polestar is really nailing what the future of EV design looks like, and we are looking forward to seeing the precept in production soon.