Electrics debut at Geneva Motor Show

Stacks of electrics and hybrids are being launched at the Geneva International Motor Show during press days on March 6 and 7, and public days on March 8-18.

The Polestar 1 from Volvo’s electric performance brand is among the first of them off the show starting line.

Others are coming from Jaguar (I-Pace), Audi (E-tron), Volkswagen (I.D Vizzion driverless concept), Bentley (Bentayga plug-in hybrid), Honda (CR-V pug-in hybrid), Hyundai (Kona Electric SUV), Mercedes, Rimac, and BMW.

“Electromobility is the main focus of today’s automotive industry, and Polestar is at the centre of this development, introducing world-class electrified cars and ground-breaking, customer-focussed services and offers,” Polestar chief executive officer Thomas Ingenlath says.

He says more than 6000 potential customers are interested.

“With our current plans to produce 500 cars per year, it’s possible that we have exceeded our production potential in these early stages.”

Polestar will open Polestar 1 pre-orders on March 13.

“We will open pre-ordering of the Polestar 1 to 18 markets which covers around 95% of the geographical interest from potential Polestar 1 customers,” Ingenlath says.

Customers will be able to subscribe to their Polestar car for two or three years with one monthly fee that includes sundries like insurance and maintenance. The Polestar 1 can still be bought outright too.

The Polestar 1 is an electric performance hybrid 2+2 GT coupe with 150km of pure electric driving range. It features an internal combustion engine powering the front wheels, while a double electric rear axle drive system powers the rear wheels from a total of 34kWh of battery power.

The Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 will join the portfolio as full battery-electric, higher volume, driver-focused vehicles.