Polestar

Polestar is a Swedish automotive brand established in 1996 by Volvo Cars' partner Flash/Polestar Racing and acquired in 2015 by Volvo, which itself was acquired by Geely in 2010. It is headquartered in Torslanda outside Gothenburg, Sweden with vehicle production taking place in China.

The Polestar name originates from the STCC Polestar racing team which spawned Polestar Performance AB, in turn acquired by Volvo Cars in July 2015. The racing team changed its name to Cyan Racing, while maintaining close ties to Volvo.

In September 2021, Polestar announced an intention to go public through a business combination agreement with Gores Guggenheim, Inc., a special-purpose acquisition company. Polestar shares began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol PSNY on 24 June 2022.

The company origins can be traced back to the foundation of Flash Engineering in 1996, a Swedish racing team competing in Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC). The team was later sold and rebranded to Polestar Racing, starting to engineer their own racing Volvos 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 and brand in July 2015, offering Polestar enhanced models directly from their resellers.

Polestar has also produced prototype cars, with the first being the C30 Polestar Performance Concept Prototype (2010) with over 400 bhp (300 kW) and 510 N⋅m (380 lbf⋅ft).

The Volvo S60 Polestar Concept is the heir to the C30 Polestar, featuring 508 BHP from a modified T6 engine, launched in June 2012. The car sprints from 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) in 3.9 seconds with a top speed of over 300 km/h (190 mph). Motor Trend tested the car at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca where it broke the lap record for four-door cars, matching the lap time of an Audi R8.