Trophy-winning rally driver and Polestar 2 Chief Chassis Engineer Joakim Rydholm somehow convinced his bosses to let him engineer a winter rally inspired one-off version of the all-electric Polestar 2 hatchback—all in the name of cold weather testing and “engineering expertise,” or whatever sounded sexy or most plausible at the time.
Rydholm’s Polestar
The custom one-off is called the “Arctic Circle,” and Rydholm, the mad genius behind the newly uncertified Polestar snowmobile, has led development of Polestar’s vehicles (and more at Volvo and Geely before that) for over a decade through his own engineering firm.
The foundation of the Arctic Circle project is a Polestar 2 long range dual motor EV equipped with the performance package. The Öhlins dampers were tuned with springs 30-percent softer than those on the road-going car. “Tuning a chassis on snow and ice allows us to develop our cars in what feels like slow motion and with better accuracy,” Rydholm added in a statement.
“With such low levels of grip, we can feel and analyze the dynamics at a much slower pace than on tarmac, which means we can really fine-tune the way our cars behave, down to the smallest details. These are my absolute favorite conditions to develop cars in,” he added.
Polestar 2 Mods For Winter
The car will go through, and was seemingly designed for, Polestar’s intense 15-week winter testing program. Testing runs from December to March in the Arctic Circle, hence the project car’s name. Power has been tweaked to offer a little more, now putting down 469 horsepower (350 kW) and 502 lb-ft of torque (680 Nm).
The right height has increased by 30 mm, or 1.18 inches, and Rydholm has equipped 19-inch bespoke winter tires (245/35 R19), each with 490 0.16-inch metal studs embedded in them. The custom tires wrap 19-inch OZ Racing wheels.
Newly fitted front and rear strut braces increase steering responsiveness and torsional rigidity, and four-piston Brembo brakes carried over from the donor 2’s Performance Pack do what they can in the snowy conditions.
Further modifications include tasteful Stedi Quad Pro LED front lights, a carbon fiber skid plate on the front bumper for additional underbody protection, and a grey and white exterior livery. The back of the car features a carbon fiber snow shovel and a recovery strap, for the realistic rally mindset.
The interior features charcoal Recaro front bucket seats with custom upholstery and Öhlin’s “Swedish gold” branding adornments. The standard car’s paddle shifters have also been reconfigured to activate and/or control some sort of mysterious prototype launch control system hinted at in the press release, but not yet on offer.
The Tangible Future Of Polestar
Polestar, established only five years ago, has brought two models to market that you can actually buy: The Polestar 1 hybrid sports car has continued production to meet demand, and the all-new Polestar 2 fully-electric hatchback began deliveries to customers over a year ago.
The Polestar 3 electric performance SUV is projected by the automaker to debut sometime this year (maybe after all the testing, who knows). A smaller electric performance SUV, the Polestar 4, will be some sort of “SUV coupe” and is set for 2023, and the finalization of the lovely four-door Polestar Precept concept will come in 2024, which will be named the Polestar 5 and serve as something of a flagship for the brand.
Beyond that, Polestar has also promised its first “truly climate-neutral” production car by 2030. Sadly, none of that seems to leave room for a short production run of Arctic Circle 2s for now, unless enough people with enough purchasing power make some noise. Never say never.
Keyword: One-Off Polestar 2 Arctic Circle Is So Cool, It's Ice Cold