Tuesday 8th October 2019

Polestar announces new Performance Pack

The Polestar 2 isn't even out yet, but customers are already being offered a £5k upgrade

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Just because Polestar has been re-launched as a standalone EV manufacturer, doesn't mean it's lost its performance edge. Of course, with the company's debut Polestar 1 being its first and last hybrid vehicle, there'll be no internal combustion engines to tune, fettle or boost going forward. No, it's electric only from here on out, but that still leaves plenty of room to improve other parameters, with vehicle weight, aero and driving dynamics all still up for grabs.

Now the Swedish marque has announced a 2020 release for its new Polestar 2, a £49,900 'performance fastback' putting out 400hp and 487lb ft from its all-wheel drive electric powertrain. And, without interfering with the 78kWh battery, its engineers have set about coming up with ways to make it even more performance-focussed still.

In order to "take the car's driving dynamics to the next level" they've installed a four-piston Brembo front brake setup, adjustable Ohlins dampers, 20-inch forged alloy wheels and, erm, gold seatbelts and valve caps. Hmm. Still, better brakes are no bad thing in a 1,900kg car, and Ohlins expertise - another Swedish company, don't forget - has been proven on Polestar products before, as well as one or two others...

The Performance Pack will cost UK buyers an additional £5,000 on top of the cost of their Polestar 2 - which can be pre-ordered online now for a guaranteed 2020 delivery. Explaining how the additional items improve the car, head of chassis development Joakim Rydholm said: "We spent a lot of time obsessing over the finest details of the Performance Pack chassis set-up to find the car's sweet spot; we call it the 'Golden Ride'. Comfortable but focussed, we want you to feel positively connected to the road, the car alive and communicative, but balanced and predictable. It really is unlike most electric cars. It feels Polestar."

'Feeling Polestar' should certainly be a welcome quality, given the former racing outfit's previous achievements. And if it's one of those petrol powered products that you're really pining after, then there are of course a few worthy options in the PH classifieds...

[CedricN]

Not bad for a set of real quality performance parts

[CedricN]

JD said:

Yea, if it’s one thing an electric high riding crossover needs to become a performance model it’s gold seatbelts and gold valve caps

Whether anyone actually need the parts is a completely different question, I was just reflecting over the parts themself. Except for the bling, the other stuff like Öhlins and brembos are quite expensive stuff, which make the value of the upgrade not that bad, compared to how options normally are priced (3 grand for a differend shade of grey, etc)