Volvo has announced that Polestar, currently its performance car arm, is to become a new separately-branded electrified high performance car company.
In order to drive the development of the brand, Volvo Cars has assigned Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo, to assume the position of Chief Executive Officer at Polestar. Mr Ingenlath has been one of the key figures behind Volvo’s award winning design renaissance in recent years.
“Thomas heading up the Polestar organisation shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group,” said Hakan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars.
Mr Ingenlath will be joined at Polestar by Jonathan Goodman, who will become Chief Operating Officer. Mr Goodman moves from his position as Senior Vice President Corporate Communication at Volvo Cars.
“With 25 years of commercial experience in the automotive industry, Jonathan is ideally placed to provide operational experience alongside Thomas’s vision, building on the experienced management team that will drive the Polestar brand forwards” said Mr Samuelsson.
“Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars. With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.”
Volvo acquired 100 per cent of Polestar Performance in July 2015, having worked together in motorsport since 1996. In the future, Polestar will offer Polestar branded cars that will no longer carry a Volvo logo, as well as optimisation packages for Volvo’s range of cars under the Polestar Engineered brand.
Polestar will still enjoy a close working, technological and engineering relationship with Volvo Cars, a stance the company hopes will have economic benefit for both sides.
Polestar will make further announcements about its products and commercial plans in the final quarter of this year.