..:: AUTO REPORT AFRICA ::..
Related Articles
A new management team has been announced for Polestar as the Volvo Cars’ performance division moves to become a new, global, separately-branded, high-performance electrified car company, thus marking the latest stage in Volvo’s ongoing transformation.
And in a move to drive the development of the brand, Volvo Cars also named Thomas Ingenlath, the Senior Vice President Design, who has been the inspiration behind Volvo’s award-winning design renaissance in recent years, as Chief Executive Officer of Polestar.
President and chief executive of Volvo Cars, Håkan Samuelsson, said “Thomas heading up the Polestar organisation shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group,”
Ingenlath will be joined at Polestar by Jonathan Goodman, who will become Chief Operating Officer. Goodman moves from his position as Senior Vice President Corporate Communication at Volvo Cars.
“With 25 years of commercial experience in the automotive industry, Jonathan is ideally placed to provide operational experience alongside Thomas’s vision, building on the experienced management team that will drive the Polestar brand forwards,” Samuelsson added. “Polestar will become a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars. With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.”
Recall that Volvo Cars acquired 100 per cent of Polestar Performance in July 2015, having worked together in motorsport since 1996. In the future, Polestar will offer Polestar branded cars that will no longer carry a Volvo logo, as well as optimisation packages for Volvo’s range of cars under the Polestar Engineered brand.
Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world-beating electrified high-performance cars.
On his new appointment, Ingenlath said: “I am really excited to take up the challenge of establishing this exciting brand, developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channelling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team. The next chapter in Polestar’s history is just beginning.”
Volvo said Polestar will make further announcements about its products, industrialisation and commercial plans in spring 2017.
