This hardcore Polestar 2 has 470bhp and fancy suspension

With the optional £5,000 Performance Pack that brings manually-adjustable Ohlins dampers, chunky Brembo brakes and, erm, gold seatbelts, the Polestar 2 is already a pretty serious piece of kit. But for this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed the company has upped the ante with THIS; a one-off hardcore Polestar 2 with more power and even fancier suspension. 

According to Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, the nameless prototype is based on another ‘experimental’ Polestar 2 – nicknamed ‘Beast’ – that he’s been tooling around in for the past few months. “I challenged the design and engineering teams to play with Polestar 2 and come up with something that makes a strong statement for Goodwood,” he said. “We want to flex our muscles and explore opportunities.”

The prototype makes 470bhp from its twin electric motors – an increase of 67bhp from standard. Fatter wheel arches accommodate a 20mm wider track and the wheels, tyres and six-piston Akebono brakes from the Polestar 1. Going deeper, the springs are 80 and 40 per cent stiffer at the front and rear respectively, and Polestar has nabbed the carbon strut brace from the Volvo S60 Polestar Engineered and fabricated one of its own for the rear-end. The dampers are still by Ohlins, but they’re 30 per cent stiffer than before. 

No performance figures have been confirmed, but the prototype ought to be quicker than the standard car to 62mph (so, sub 4.7 seconds). 

In the looks department, Polestar has updated the bumpers, colour coded the grille and added a go-faster stripe. The company’s chief chassis engineer Joakim Rydholm will be piloting the prototype at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. 

Reckon Polestar should put a higher-performance 2, like this prototype, into production?