Who makes Polestar cars?
Who owns Polestar, where are they made, and does Volvo have anything to do with it?
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By Ben Welham
Last updated: 19 June 2025
Polestar cars may look like spaceships, but they didn’t just land on this earth out of nowhere, so who makes Polestar cars and who owns this Swedish car company?
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Is Polestar owned by Volvo?
Polestar was originally the performance division of Volvo, like AMG is to Mercedes, but its ownership structure has evolved significantly over the years.
Nowadays, Polestar is no longer fully owned by Volvo and became an independent electric vehicle Volvo spin-off brand in 2017.
At the same time, it got a new majority stakeholder in the form of Geely, a Chinese automotive conglomerate that also owns Volvo, Lotus, and other brands.
As of early 2024, Geely owns about 24% of Polestar, while Volvo holds around 18%.
Where are Polestar cars made?
There are a number of different locations used to build Polestar cars.
The main facility is in Chengdu, China, and this is where the majority of Polestar models are built. But it also has a large factory in Ridgeville, South Carolina, to serve its US-based market.
In the future, Polestar has its sights set on global expansion to keep up with demand, starting with a factory in South Korea.
What country is Polestar from?
Like its cousin, Volvo, Polestar is very much a Swedish car brand. The styling shines through in its minimalist design, both inside and out.
 "Polestar 3")
History of Polestar
Polestar began its journey in 1996 as a Swedish racing team called Flash Engineering, competing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC).
In 2005, the team rebranded as Polestar Racing and became Volvo’s official performance partner.
This partnership led to the creation of Polestar Performance, which offered performance upgrades for Volvo’s road cars, such as the V60 and XC90. These were denoted by a small light blue Polestar badge on the back.
In 2015, Volvo Cars acquired Polestar, integrating it into its operations. And while the racing division was spun off as Cyan Racing, it maintained close ties with Volvo.
Two years later, in 2017, Polestar was relaunched as a standalone electric car brand under the joint ownership of Volvo and its parent company, Geely Holding Group. This marked a significant shift from performance tuning to electric mobility.
Polestar’s first car under this new identity was the Polestar 1, a limited-production hybrid grand tourer introduced in 2017. Polestar sold very few of these, so you’d be forgiven for never having heard about it before.
It was followed by the Polestar 2 in 2020, a fully electric hatchback aimed at the premium EV market.
The brand has continued to expand with the Polestar 3, an electric SUV launched in 2022, and the Polestar 4, a coupe-style SUV, with many more models on the way.
Are Polestar cars Volvo?
Well, yes and no. Polestar is still part-owned by Volvo, but they’re not the same brand, and each has its own unique lineup of models.
For example, Volvo has the V90, EX40 and XC90, whereas Polestar has the 2,3 and 4 – all of which are totally different cars.
 "Polestar 2 rear three quarters")
How much are Polestar cars?
Polestar is aimed at making high-end luxury electric cars that appeal to a wide range of people.
Because of this, they are fairly expensive new, but not as much as some of their competitors. For example, a base-spec Polestar 2 will set you back around £43,000, and a top-spec Polestar 3 will cost around £94,000.
However, if you’re like us and these numbers scare you a bit, then there are always used Polestar cars for sale, where some incredible savings can be had.
Are Polestar cars good?
In our experience, Polestars are really solid daily drivers. Our team of expert reviewers has driven them all, and we can highly recommend them.
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Explore used Polestar cars at cinch
With their luxurious positioning in the car market, Polestars can soon get expensive if you’re buying one new.
Thankfully, there are plenty of used Polestar cars to choose from, ranging from the ‘2’ hatchback to the ‘3’ SUV.