SoylentNews

Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Volvo Cars' performance electric car brand, Polestar, unveiled a four-seat coupe in lightweight carbon fiber as its first model Tuesday [phys.org], adding to competition in a market dominated until now by Tesla.

The hybrid Polestar 1 promises a range of 150 kilometers (95 miles) on a charge, with a gasoline-powered engine to supplement that if needed. It is due to be produced at a factory in western China and released in 2019.

Volvo, owned since 2010 by Chinese automaker Geely Holding, announced in July that it would make only electric and hybrid vehicles starting in 2019.
...
The company says it will follow up with an all-electric model in 2019 and an SUV in 2021.
...
Polestar expects China, where the government is promoting electric car development, to account for about one-third of global sales, according to Ingenlath.

China is the world's biggest market for electrics and hybrids. It accounted for 40 percent of last year's global demand with sales of 336,000 units—more than double U.S. sales of 159,620.

Will China's transportation sector leap-frog Europe's and America's?

Original Submission