Polestar is a new brand created under the Geely umbrella. Run by CEO Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo Cars’ former Head of Design, the company’s first car is a hybrid model called the Polestar 1. We speak with design director Maximilian Missoni
I think it was a very good opportunity to take the concept coupe a that we presented in 2013 as as a starting point for that new brand because if you if you take the concept coupe a it was the dna donor of the volvo’s to come at the time but it was as well referencing back to the b 1800 and the p 1800 it’s time had a similar function it was a unicorn it was a
Special car for the brand at the time but it also lent its genes to the to the rest of the lineup so here we have a car that in terms of its performance fits perfectly to this brand it has those 600 horsepower it has like a hybrid drivetrain with an extremely long electric pure electric range and at the same time it links nicely to volvo but it will be the start
Of a more diverging in a direction and it’s basically it’s basically the start of a more and more unique expression i really believe in logical design that has basically designed that has a logical base but it’s extremely emotional emotionally executed so the surfacing in the form language really really speaks to the emotions but then the the framework of the
Lines and all sharp lines are integrated is extreme the logical so i would say that in in the example of the xe 40 we just didn’t want to have this sharp shoulder running through the whole car that’s why there is a short line that isn’t extended into the body side and i’m very happy about that because it is this little tough little creature that is very exciting
And here i mean here we had we had a carbon fiber to work with so we had a couple of different opportunities that you don’t really have in in sheet metal necessarily so that’s why some of the design cues that you can see in this car are the way they are but yes we do develop step-by-step a form language that will differentiate polestar more and more from volvo and
And and there are these elements like you know specific electrification elements coming in and there will be an exciting journey in the next couple of years so what you see here is a beautiful first step into the brand polestar and i’m very excited personally about the journey that that the design of this brand will take we didn’t want to fall into the cliche of
Just using certain colour codes for electrification and doing the obvious things to indicate that these cars from now on the whole generation will be electrified so and i’m happy to see that that people notice that as well that is a very subtle approach to to branding and you see those fine little details in the logos being basically color-coordinated in the in a
Matte tone and also very subtle ways of expressing the electric powertrain in this case it’s a hybrid it’s a very strong 600 horsepower hybrid and but they will be from now on fully electric the the interesting thing here is that the brand polestar uses the concept coupe a from 2013 as basically as the the production translation of that car as the first car which
Is a good thing in a way because if you look at the p 1800 at its time that the coupe a was inspired by it also was a kind of a unicorn to the brand but then led to become a dna donor for the for the for the lineup and in this case here it’s it also works really well as the story because it needs to be clear that the brands from a beginning are linked there is
Very similar technology there’s also the same trust in the industrial system and then from that point onwards the two brands will go there more and more separate ways so if you look at volvo for example which is very human centric it’s all designed around the passengers the people you know safety is a big message and the the poster products will be more and more
Focusing on technology and pointing it out and playing with it and displaying and being proud of the technology that’s within them so that’s where there will be a clear divide and we will also use that in the design form language to sharpen the two expressions the grille of the poster one that’s that’s an interesting story because the car is very powerful but yet
It’s a hybrid so it takes a lot of its energy from the from the electric motors or from the from the batteries that matter we we do also show that the need for airflow into the grill is not as great as it as it is an impurity combustion driven car so we call the grill the grid and it still takes its it’s general attitude from the volvo vertical bars but then it
Closes it off more and has those closed areas which is something for us to show electrification show that the need of air is getting less and less and that’s a great playground for us and we will keep experimenting with that in the future
Transcribed from video
Polestar Design Director Max Missoni on the Polestar 1 By Form Trends
