Polestar is a significant name to the Volvo brand. But many people may not know what it is, and what they do to Volvos. Polestar was a Swedish racing team, then named Flash Engineering, that got started in the 1990’s racing Volvo 850’s in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC). After a re-brand and a slew of successful racecars, Polestar was offered the opportunity to develop performance tunes for Volvo’s road cars. More or less, they were Volvo’s AMG or M Division. However, now they have become more independent, developing electric road cars under Volvo’s supervision. There have been many a Polestar-tuned Volvos over the past few years. Volvo has just announced that Polestar will be tuning three new models: the S60 sedan, V60 wagon and XC60 crossover.
The looks
The tuning package, called Polestar Engineered, is only available for the hybrid T8 powertrain. Visually, Volvo’s spinoff company designed the Polestar Engineered package’s lightweight wheels to show off the trademark gold 6-piston Brembo brake kit. Polestar also adorned the cars with their emblems, a tradition that harks back to previous high-performance Volvo models. They’ve also fitted chrome exhaust tips and gold seatbelts.
Performance
Polestar gave the suspension a thorough going over as well. It features a set of Öhlins shock absorbers with dual-flow valves. Plus, a strut bar and adjustable shock absorber design from the Polestar 1, Polestar’s upcoming fully-electric road car.
Of course, Polestar hasn’t left the engine alone either. The T8 twin engine setup utilizes a 2.0-liter turbocharged & supercharged inline-four. If that wasn’t enough, Volvo also mated that engine to an electric motor. The total combined output, as a result, stands at 400 horsepower and 472 lb-ft of torque. The Polestar Engineering trim bumps that power output up to 415 horsepower and 494 lb-ft of torque. Better yet, Volvo states the ECU flash helps improve fuel consumption.
Coming Very Soon
The Polestar Engineered trim will first debut on the upcoming S60 sedan, set to be revealed next week. Volvo has not yet announced pricing for the Polestar Engineered package yet, but we will give an update when that information becomes available. Stay tuned to TFLcar.com for more updates! Subscribe to The Fast Lane Car and TFLnow for more news, views and real-world, electrified Volvo reviews.