Polestar 1 prototypes start production

The verification prototypes will be used for crash tests, weather testing and on-road assessment.

Volvo's Polestar division has begun building its first Polestar 1 prototype cars.

The pre-production verification prototypes will be used for crash tests, weather testing and on-road dynamics assessment, among other necessary tasks.

The first cars are being assembled mostly by hand at the company's Gothenburg facility. Series production will be based at the new Polestar factory in Chengdu, China.

The company says the Polestar 1 requires several unique construction techniques to build its lightweight carbon-fiber body, a first for Volvo.

"This first batch of 34 cars will enable our engineers to tune the finer details of the car, ensuring that the Polestar 1 is perfect when we start to produce customer cars in the middle of next year," says Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath.