Repair-It

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2021-po ... 98198DACFD

I had to Wiki Polestar to learn that they are a Volvo subbrand. Maybe I'm late to the game but it almost seems like the press packages that the journalists get must have a caveat to minimize the linkage back to the parent company (helps amplify the subbrand in a marketing sense). In other words you'd think articles would still mention Volvo since it is very early and no one knows what the hell Polestar is (unless they are being asked not to).

Sub-branding is always popular with marketing type people. It can often be used repackage things you already have into something that appears more exciting to the consumer, or to generate more buzz around a new product.

I was aware of Polestar as a performance designation of Volvo, similar to BMW M. It's interesting that they chose to completely separate it from Volvo like Hyundai did with Genesis. I kind of question the need for this because the people who buy $60k electric cars are squarely within Volvo's core demographic so it's not as if they needed a new brand to make their car more appealing in the same way that Hyundai did.

Fun fact: you can't spell Polestar without Tesla.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polestar

I have a few more thoughts.

I guess the company technically dates back to 1996 though the Polestar name didn't come until 2005. It was a racing company that appears to have used Volvos (and hilariously during a time of basically exclusively FWD-based vehicles - check out the 850 raising a rear tire on the Wiki page). 2013 was the first "Polestar" trim Volvo. It wasn't until 2015 that Volvo actually bought the company/brand. In 2017 they announced that performance/luxury EVs were coming. I do not recall this. I probably thought "meh."

It probably isn't worth standing up a company and having to create a marketing image. However some elements already existed and having this company may mean a couple things:
1) It may be more of a wholly owned but independent subsidiary (though how independent is kind of my question, and in what way - there would be a lot of resources to leverage within the Volvo enterprise). In other words, they've existed in some form for a while now.
2) It provides Volvo (which used to be a very conservative company) with the opportunity to dip its toe in this water without worrying about any harm to the "Volvo" brand/image.

Overall it is a little odd. As you say, it's not like Volvo isn't already selling cars to a demographic that, at the very least, has some significant overlap with a Tesla-type buyer (i.e. luxury/technology/yuppie/status type buyer). Plus it's not like their existing offerings are not technology focused. Then again, as I was about to do some research on this, I may have stumbled onto the entire reason for this sub-brand.

http://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/25800/ ... ar-leaders

2019 Volvo S60 T8 Review: Half-Baked Hybrid Shows Volvo Is Miles Behind Electric Car Leaders
Illusory mileage gains and glitchy hybrid system should send Volvo back to the drawing board.

Well there you go. Maybe the concern was their reputation was tarnished and needed a sub-brand. But honestly that is a very extreme reaction. Pretty much every carmaker has released one or more duds and survived in the long term.

I mean, Volvo already has a reputation of being terrible. Who cares if they suck at electric cars too? When your gas cars are riddled with electrical problems, maybe you shouldn't make the whole thing electric?