It’s a good sign that Volvo is in good standing in the automotive industry when it’s prepared to let its performance arm Polestar go out and make a name of its own, independent from the mother company. The announcement was made a few months ago, but now it’s official. Polestar has broken off from Volvo, and the new company left nothing to the imagination when it posted on Instagram an image made up of only two words: “The End.”

For those who are wondering if this is sad news, it’s not - It's the exact opposite, actually. Say what you will about Volvo’s image as a luxury brand, but the Swedish automaker is making an aggressive move to take a piece of the performance car industry pie. When was the last time we thought of Volvo in these terms? Decades ago? Never? But this is what Volvo has become under the ownership of Chinese auto giant Geely, and it’s a wonderful thing. And as for Polestar, the newly-minted company will now focus its time and resources on developing high-performance electrified cars. There’s no word yet on what models it plans on developing, but a previous report indicated that Polestar’s first offering would be a bespoke sports car that will feature generous amounts of carbon fiber and will have a power output of around 600 horsepower. If this model does end up getting made, it would be Polestar’s initial offering to the market. For what it’s worth, never did I imagine a company with roots to Volvo roll out a car with that much power under its hood. But that’s, apparently, what we can start expecting from Polestar, which makes this news of its official separation from Volvo all the more exciting.

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What can we expect from Polestar now that it’s going to do its own thing?

It’s fascinating to see how much progress Volvo has made ever since Geely purchased it back in 2011. Not only has the Swedish company reinvented itself as a legitimate luxury brand with a model portfolio that’s considered one of the best in the business, it’s also been able to do it on its own terms. It didn’t have to change its approach or completely alter its image. Instead, it focused on reviving its once glistening reputation as one of the best luxury car makers in the business. It’s done exactly that in a lot of ways to the point that expanding its reach has become a real thing.

For those who don’t remember, Polestar used to be the performance division of Volvo, similar to how AMG used to be the same thing for Mercedes-Benz. The growth of the performance car industry spurred Mercedes to split off AMG and turn it into its own brand, hence the birth of Mercedes-AMG. Volvo is effectively doing the same with Polestar so you can imagine the excitement of what Polestar can do now that it’s going to be charged with developing its own performance models with the backing of Volvo and parent firm Geely.

Expectations are definitely high at this point, but let’s be real about it too. I don’t expect Polestar to reach the levels of Mercedes-AMG or even BMW M overnight. It’s going to have to prove itself first before we can put it up on a pedestal. Think of Polestar in the same vein as Hyundai’s N division. Both are embarking on roads that they’ve never had to go through before, although Hyundai N has managed to impress us with its recent offerings, namely the i30 N. Now it’s Polestar’s turn to make a name for itself and word of its plan to develop a 600-horsepower bespoke sports coupe as a first offering got a lot of people’s attention. Now it’s time to see if the new performance brand can more than live up to the hype.

References

Volvo V60 Polestar

Read our full review on the Volvo V60 Polestar.