Volvo's Polestar performance brand has always been a bit of an afterthought in the world of luxury performance brands. Now, with the reveal of the all-new 600 hp Polestar 1, AMG and M better watch out. Volvo is positioning the Polestar brand with hybrid and EV performance vehicles that emit little to no emissions. Right now, that makes Polestar a strong competitor for Tesla and the BMW i sub-brand. Interestingly, the Polestar 1 coupe won't need to be purchased outright. Instead, people can subscribe to the car on a monthly basis.

Porsche will offer a similar subscription service on its cars, but it's interesting that Volvo isn't pushing people to buy the car outright. Volvo has come out and said that the car will cost around $177,000 to own. That may sound like a ton of money for a Volvo, but this is a 600-hp sports coupe that we are talking about. According to Automotive News, the Polestar 1 will be an extremely rare beast. Only 500 units are planned per year, and it will take until 2020 for the company to reach that production level. The reason for the low volume is that the car is extremely difficult to build. The carbon fiber body must be bonded onto the shortened version of the S90 sedan's steel platform.

This means that Polestar won't be a true threat to brands like Tesla until it releases volume models like the planned Polestar 2 sedan, Polestar 3 crossover, and Polestar 4 convertible. This may not be good news for Volvo's accountants, but collectors may be happy to hear that the Polestar 1 could be rarer than the 911 R. Hopefully collectors won't take advantage of the car's rarity and try to flip it for a profit.