India Absent From List Of Initial Markets For Polestar, Will Get Electrified Volvos Instead

Expect more action in the hybrid arena as Volvo plans to offer electrified versions of all its cars globally from 2019

In October 2017, Polestar made its debut as Volvo’s new standalone electric performance car brand by unveiling the Polestar 1. Before venturing into electric vehicles (EVs), Polestar was limited to producing faster versions of the Volvo’s regular cars. Remember the racy, light blue Volvo S60 Polestar launched in April 2017?

• Volvo S60 Polestar: First Drive Review

Speaking of the Polestar 1, Volvo’s performance brand is set to open up showrooms, a.k.a ‘Polestar Spaces’, in select countries like the US, China, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands initially. India is not on the list of initial markets for Polestar, which cites initial customer demand as the reason for choosing the specified countries for its first-ever EV. Pre-orders for the Polestar 1 in the above mentioned countries began in October, 2017. 

Though the Polestar 1 is a 600PS high-performance hybrid coupe, subsequent offerings from the brand will be purely electric, including the Tesla Model 3-rivalling Polestar 2 sedan and the Polestar 3 SUV. The production of the Polestar 1 will begin in China in 2019 and the Polestar 2 will also roll out in the same year.

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Although India doesn’t figure in the initial list of countries that will get Polestar Spaces, Volvo told CarDekho that it is working towards strengthening its electrified vehicle portfolio, which currently includes the XC90 Excellence plug-in hybrid SUV with the T8 Twin Engine (petrol+electric combo).

Check out the Polestar 1 in detail here: Volvo’s Performance Arm Unveils The Polestar 1, Its First Hybrid Car

While Volvo works on increasing its market share in the country, we expect the carmaker to introduce the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid drivetrain with the S90 sedan and the recently launched, second-gen XC60 SUV soon.

Volvo's latest SUV, the XC40, which is set for a mid-2018 launch here, too will soon receive a hybrid and all-electric variant in the international market. Hence, even though we won’t get our hands on the Polestar 1, we can expect to see most of Volvo’s hybrid and electric models to make their way to India in the near future!

Check out: 2017 Volvo XC60: First Drive Review