A 600-HP High-Performance Swedish Coupe Is Coming

It was only just over a month ago when Volvo announced that its Polestar brand will become a standalone division, and already there's exciting product news. Autocar is claiming Polestar is planning not one, but two bespoke performance models with unique designs, and the first one could debut (likely as a concept) as soon as this September at Frankfurt. Supposedly, one of these Polestars will be a coupe with around 600 hp at its disposal.

Instead of further modifying, say, the S60, Polestar will supposedly leverage Volvo's two flexible platform architectures for all of its models and create something bespoke. The S60, in other words, could rather easily be turned into a Polestar coupe with a completely unique design. The hard part, however, is the engineering involved. Thanks to parent company Geely's financial backing, Polestar has the available resources but the task itself is still daunting, especially considering German rivals such as the BMW's M division. As we also just learned, all Volvos after 2019 will either be hybrids or pure EVs, and this applies to Polestar as well.

Hybrid technology, as we already know, can also be utilized to increase performance, and Polestar insiders say some range may even be traded for performance. In order to obtain that 600 hp, Polestar will probably work with the plug-in hybrid drivetrain from the XC90 T8, a supercharged and turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline engine with 324 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. An electric motor provides an additional 81 hp and 177 lb-ft. That's what we know for now, but with Frankfurt just around the corner, we figure the Swedes would love nothing more than to steal the show from the German brands.