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Polestar, Volvo's all-electric offshoot, has confirmed that its new '2' fastback will be built in an equally new factory in China. Specifically in the city of Luqiao, in Zhejiang Province, starting next year.
Because Volvo (and therefore Polestar) is owned by Chinese giant Geely, it can leverage production facilities in China, and make good use of the lower factory costs there.
The new 2 shares its CMA platform with the Volvo XC40 SUV and the incoming new V40 as well. It also shares with models made by another Geely brand, Lynk&Co, which has just started making its 01 and 02 models.
"Being able to produce Polestar 2 in the Luqiao plant in China shows the clear synergies of our ownership structure and gives us a great industrial advantage," comments Thomas Ingenlath, Chief Executive Officer at Polestar. "With Geely and Volvo Cars as our owners, we are able to leverage their expertise in many different ways. Manufacturing is one of the most important areas, helping us accelerate our progress and entry into the market with the confidence that Polestar 2 production will begin as planned early next year."
Polestar has confirmed that it will open its first 'Polestar Space' (its fancy term for its city-centre and shopping-centre dealerships - Polestar will be one of the first brands to entirely shun the traditional 'glass palace' out of town dealerships) in Oslo. That's hardly surprising, given the huge popularity of electric cars in Norway. With an equal lack of surprise, Polestar has also confirmed that its second 'Space' will open in China, another market that's heavily pushing electric cars right now. The brand expects to open 20 Polestar Spaces in China next year, evenly spread between 11 of the country's major cities.
The Polestar 2 is the company's first all-electric model. The Polestar 1, which looks like a Volvo S90 Coupe and is every bit as gorgeous as that sounds, uses a plug-in hybrid 2.0-litre petrol engine to develop its mammoth 600hp.