Volvo's Polestar Opens First Plant in China, Aims to Ship EVs to US, Europe This Year
Zhang Yushuo
DATE:  Aug 29 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Volvo's Polestar Opens First Plant in China, Aims to Ship EVs to US, Europe This Year Volvo's Polestar Opens First Plant in China, Aims to Ship EVs to US, Europe This Year

(Yicai Global) Aug. 28 -- Polestar, the high-performance automaker owned by Volvo Car Group and Geely Holdings, opened its first assembly line in China yesterday, setting itself up for key export markets including the United States and Europe.

Located in the southwestern city of Chengdu, the Polestar Production Centre is unlike other vehicle production plants. It will turn out the Polestar 1, a hand-assembled plug-in hybrid.

Hand assembling cars is not fast-moving production, as Chief Executive Thomas Ingenlath explained to Yicai Global. In fact, it is "the opposite end of speed," he said, since the factory is dedicated to the craftsmanship of high-performance cars.

Designed by Polestar and Norway architects Snohetta, the plant will produce 500 carbon-fiber-bodied Polestar 1s a year. It is Polestar's first car since Volvo made the company independent two years ago. Volvo, part owned by Geely, bought it in 2015.

The luxury hybrid coupe is priced at CNY1.45 million (USD202,500) and is expected to start being delivered cross China, Europe and the US this year. Polestar's other models will be pure electric vehicles.

Polestar 1 will be sold at over 40 Polestar Spaces worldwide next year in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Oslo, Munich, London and Los Angeles. Polestar's strategy in these key markets is 'one design, one brand,' though it also has to abide by country-specific and franchise laws, Ingenlath said.

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Keywords:   Polestar,Volvo