4 Things To Expect From The Volvo S90 Polestar

In the short history of Polestar Volvos, we’ve been treated to a smattering of vehicles powered by fruity turbocharged inline-sixes. The future for Volvo’s official performance arm won’t be quite so straightforward though, with all of the Swedish company’s cars eventually being underpinned with the same Scalable Platform Architecture that has room only for 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines.

So, what exactly might we see from the eventual Polestar version of the incoming S90? Here are some of our predictions, based on recent comments from Volvo VIPs and a little healthy speculation.

A hybrid powertrain

Speaking to Autocar last year about the possibility of a Polestar S90, Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson commented: “Polestar will still be sophisticated performance…Hybrid power is the direction that Polestar will go in. In a way, Tesla has legitimised electric performance, although Polestar will be more sophisticated again.”

These comments were echoed by XC90 project manager Lars Lagstrom, whom we spoke to earlier this week at the launch of the XC90 T8. He said: “Polestar has to work on the 2.0-litre four-cylinder Drive-E engines, that’s the future. And of course they will work on the electrification process as well.”

The possibility of a Polestar-fettled version of the 400bhp T8 hybrid system in the S90 and XC90 has been mentioned, and it’s the obvious candidate. It’s comprised of a 2.0-litre supercharged/turbocharged four-cylinder engine which powers the front wheels, and an electric motor powering the rear wheels.

A considerably more powerful electric motor

The issue with the T8 powertrain is that it’s heavily biased towards the front wheels. The engine puts out 320bhp to the front wheels, with the motor making up the remaining 80bhp, giving an 80/20 split in favour of the front tyres. There’s no propshaft to send the engine’s power to the rear as there is in other all-wheel drive XC90s and S90s, with the batteries occupying the space instead.

The prospective buyer of a BMW M5 alternative probably wouldn’t want such a heavily front-biased car, and in any case, there’s the technical issue of how much power the front tyres can take. When asked if the T8 system was at the limit of what could be channeled through only the front wheels, Lagstrom said: “I think that’s about it, because you need the all-wheel drive system to really put out all the power.” The solution could come in the form of a much more powerful motor and only a small increase in power for the engine, which would give a much better front-to-rear split in the process. Given all Volvo’s mentions of Tesla and its electric performance cars, it’s something we wouldn’t be surprised to see.

Otherwise, a significant increase for both could be possible, but this would surely require a propshaft to send some of the engine’s power to the rear. This would force a relocation of the batteries - sapping large amounts of interior space in the process. The batteries would also have to be reduced in size to fit.

A V90 estate version

The Polestar lineup already includes a wagon in the form of the V60. A Polestar version of the incoming V90 estate(rendered above in standard form) already seems almost certain, but actually, we might only get a Polestar V90.

Going back to those comments made by Samuelsson to Autocar last December, you’ll find this interesting little nugget: “I’d say a wagon is more likely for us than a Polestar version of the S90, because we have the heritage there from our days with the 850 in the British Touring Car Championship.” Naturally we’d prefer both, but if we were to choose one, the V90 would get our vote - because fast wagons are awesome.

Over 500bhp

The T8 powertrain’s 400bhp output is a decent starting point, but if Gothenburg wants to compete with the likes of the BMW M5 and Audi RS6 - both of which put out 552bhp - the wick will need to be turned up a fair bit more than that. So it’s perfectly rational to speculate on a power output exceeding 500bhp. As discussed earlier, we’ll just have to wait and see exactly how this will be achieved….