Volvo Cars has announced that Polestar, its performance car arm, is to become a new separately branded electrified global high-performance car company, marking the latest stage in Volvo’s ongoing transformation.
In order to drive the development of the brand, Volvo Cars also announced that Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president of design at Volvo, will assume the position of CEO at Polestar.
Ingenlath will be joined at Polestar by Jonathan Goodman, who will become chief operating officer. Goodman moves from his position as senior vice president of 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’ vision, building on the experienced management team that will drive the Polestar brand forwards,” says Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
“Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high-performance electrified cars,” he says. “With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.”
As reported, Volvo Cars acquired 100% of Polestar Performance in July 2015. In the future, Polestar will offer Polestar-branded cars that will no longer carry a Volvo logo, as well as optimization packages for Volvo’s range of cars under the Polestar Engineered brand.
Polestar will make further announcements about its products, industrialization and commercial plans this fall.