Polestar Readying Second Chinese Plant

Volvo’s luxury electric brand, Polestar, says the Chinese production plant for its second model, Polestar 2, is on schedule to make customer deliveries next year.

The battery-electric model follows on from the 600-hp hybrid supercar, Polestar 1, which came to European markets this autumn after shipping from the automaker’s Chengdu production plant. Now the automaker says its Luqiao factory in China is undergoing tooling trial production of Polestar 2.

This prototype phase is designed to prove vehicle integrity and process quality to meet the automaker’s marketing target.

“Polestar 2 tooling trial prototypes are now rolling off the final production line in the Luqiao factory, and so nearing series production,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath says in a news release. “Cars will be with customers in the first half of 2020, as planned.”

Preproduction Polestar 2 models will be tested when the automaker’s dedicated test track at the Luqiao facility opens. It is designed to reduce the amount of transport required for vehicle assessment and “diminish the associated environmental footprint,” Polestar says.