The vehicles of the future are being electrified, autonomous and connected. The vehicles of the future will also be more environmentally friendly than current ones. Gothenburg in Sweden is the hub of automotive industry with long roots in manufacturing and innovation. Two famous automotive neighbors are residing in Sweden’s Motor City – Volvo and Polestar.
On the morning of 14 April 1927, the first Volvo car drove out through the factory gates in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. The car was officially called the ÖV4 and it was an open tourer with a four-cylinder engine. The world’s first Volvo was ready to hit the road.
When the Volvo XC90 was launched in 2002, it became an instant success all over the world. It redefined the segment for big SUVs and became Sweden’s most important export product within a few years.
The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, based in Hangzhou, took over ownership of the Volvo brand in 2010.
For the first time, in 2013, Volvo operated a complete manufacturing plant outside Europe. It was inaugurated in the city of Chengdu, where the company initially produced the Volvo S60L and XC60.
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Today, the vast majority of Volvo vehicles are assembled in Sweden, mainly at the Torslanda and Skovde facilities. Volvo cars for the Asian market are assembled across four facilities in China. Volvo Cars recently opened a plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, where all American market Volvo S60 sedans are made.
The Swedish automotive brand Polestar was established in 1996 as Flash Engineering. It was later rebranded Polestar Racing, then acquired in 2015 by Volvo Cars. It is also headquartered in Torslanda outside Gothenburg, Sweden. Its vehicles are produced in China, home to Volvo’s corporate parent Geely.
The Polestar name originates from the STCC Polestar racing team which spawned Polestar Performance AB, in turn acquired by Volvo Cars in July 2015. The racing team changed its name to Cyan Racing, while maintaining close ties to Volvo.
In 2017, it surprised the automotive world with a limited run of its hybrid sport coupé, Polestar 1. Two years later came Polestar 2, a battery-electric five-door fast-back.
In September 2021, Polestar announced an intention to go public and Polestar shares began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol PSNY on 24 June 2022.
The Polestar brand is one of many to enter the global automotive market over the past few years.
Head of Design, Maximilian Missoni, talks about the optimized headroom, low roofline, sleek silhouette, and other design details of the Polestar 3 that give it its distinct expression, unique in the world of SUVs.
Polestar 4, out next year, will be a “crossover SUV-coupe” with sharp hips and an extended glass roof without rear window. Polestar 5 is said to be a sexy, low-slung four-door grand tourer, based on the company’s first dedicated platform, created at its R&D base in the UK.
Polestar was never destined to become the electric division of Volvo. Both are distinct companies under the Geely Holding umbrella, and Volvo Cars’ electric range is fast evolving with ambitions to be all-EV by 2030.
Two Famous Automotive Neighbors in Sweden’s Motor City, written by Tor Kjolberg