Li Jiaqi, Wei Ya, Luo Yonghao, Huang Jingyu, Wang Han … From the beginning of 2020 to the present, helping various car companies suffering from the epidemic to bring goods and sell cars has become a new business for the live broadcast celebrities. However, these are all side dishes in Geely’s eyes: Li Shufu and Li Dong personally took the stage and took a test drive video of Geely’s two new cars, the Lectra 05 and the Polar Star 2, respectively. “text-remarks” label = “Remarks”> (Although it is not a live broadcast, it is shot first and then broadcast) .
Linke is a new brand (founded in 2016 and sold in 2017) , but now it is well known to everyone You can often see the car on board. Polarstar is different. As a new brand, solo is only one year later than Lynk, but its popularity is far less than that of Lynk. The first real production car, Polarstar 2, has not yet been officially delivered.
(Initial Flash Engineering )
Polestar is not actually a new brand, but it is also inappropriate to say that it is an old brand. how to say? In 1996, a Swede became a racing team Flash Engineering, using Volvo cars to participate in the Swedish Touring Car STCC. In 2005, the team changed ownership and changed its name to Polestar, and began to become a Volvo refit factory. In 2015, Volvo, which had already belonged to the Geely Group, wholly bought the Polestar brand and the civilian car modification department, and the Polestar racing team was renamed Cyan Racing. Independent operation
(After Polestar was acquired by Volvo, the team changed its name to Cyan Racing)
(The current Cyan team turned to cooperate with Lynk & Co.)
In 2017, Polestar suddenly announced that it would leave Volvo and become a new independent brand under the Geely Group, Jixing. Under the arrangement of Geely Group, Polestar transformed from a Volvo modification plant and became an electric vehicle brand positioned above Volvo. You say it is a new brand, the name Polestar was in 2005, and its predecessor was established in 1996; you say it is an old brand, and its current business has become the manufacture of civilian vehicles and electric vehicles. This is also the first time.
(Pole Star 1, the new logo has a blue background removed)
The first car released by Polestar is Polestar 1, a two-door hybrid coupe with a price of RMB 1.45 million. The Pole Star 1 is actually based on the Volvo Concept Coupe concept car in 2013, which is actually a preview of Volvo ’s current flagship sedan S90, but it has abandoned the two-door Coupe in mass production and returned to the normal four-door sedan S90. Volvo S90 has not launched a two-door coupe version, so Concept Coupe this style was left to Pole Star 1.
Steel + carbon fiber, there is no way
Actually, Pole Star 1 inherits more than design. Everyone knows that it takes time and effort to develop a new car from scratch, so large car companies are engaged in platformization and generalization. Polestar was born in Volvo and was under Geely’s account. Naturally, he directly borrowed the existing SPA platforms of Geely and Volvo, that is, the platform used by Volvo S90.
The question is coming. The existing products of the SPA platform, Volvo S90 and XC90, are all four-door cars / SUVs with comfortable positioning and priced at several hundred thousand yuan. Although it is already the best flagship platform for the Volvo brand, is it enough to build a sports car Pole Star 1 with a price of 1.5 million yuan, a high-performance orientation and a Pole Star brand halo?
Not enough.
(Pic: polestar)
At the end of last year, the 2019 European Body Awards (EuroCarBody 2019) announced that Aurora 1 and BMW X7 shared the Premium Segment category awards— — But do n’t worry. When the body-in-white (Body in White, BIW) structure of Pole Star 1 is fully disclosed by EuroCarBody, you will find that this is a full of tangle With helpless design.
In the promotion, Jixing vigorously promoted that Jixing 1 uses a carbon fiber body, which is a light, strong and high-cost material. But in fact, due to the limitations of the SPA platform itself, the entire lower half of the bodywork of Jixing 1 body is made of steel, which is basically the same as the lower half of the frame used by the S90, but it is shortened by 200 ~ 320mm.
(The “butterfly-shaped” carbon fiber cross parts that are promoted in the middle are actually just a last resort for reinforcement)
The carbon fiber material is the upper body from the side of the car to the roof, and the outer cover of the body (door, frontHood, tail box cover, fender, etc.) , because these are the differences between the shape of Polar Star 1 and Volvo S90. In addition, in the center of the steel lower body, a butterfly-shaped carbon fiber reinforcement was added to balance the weight of the rear battery. Carbon fiber was also used in the front cross member of the passenger compartment.
In the entire body-in-white, the lower half is basically steel, and the upper half is basically carbon fiber. Aluminum is only a small amount of typical cast aluminum components such as the top of the suspension tower. Steel, aluminum and carbon fiber are getting lighter and more expensive. Pole Star 1 is a rare combination of steel and large-area carbon fiber, but under the drag of heavy steel, even if the multi-purpose carbon fiber is not cost-effective, the final BIW weight still reaches 348kg / 417kg (without / without cover) .
What is this concept? The BIW of Pole Star 1 is a few dozen kilograms heavier than the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which are similar in size to it, but it is much larger than Pole Star 1, but uses an all-aluminum body and no carbon fiber XJ, BIW weighs only 250 / 324kg. The weight of the body-in-white of Pole Star 1 is already equivalent to the mainstream (not available for all aluminum) body-in-white of SUV.
So much carbon fiber ratio, yetIn exchange for such a heavy body-in-white, is the reason for the amazing rigidity? Unfortunately, neither. The static torsional stiffness of Polestar 1 is 35300 Nm / degree , which is not shameful at this level, but it is not surprising-especially given that Polestar 1 uses so many carbon fibers cost. For the 2020 million-level sports car, the torsional stiffness of about 30,000 is only slightly higher than normal.
You are smart, you should be able to restore the entanglement of the pole star 1 body design:
Polestar only has Volvo’s ready-made SPA platform, but the most expensive SPA platform before was XC90. The all-steel structure can’t fully support the 1.5 million yuan sports car. Re-develop a new body from scratch? The trousers must be lost before the car starts to sell. Therefore, Polestar can only use the SPA platform for its head, except for the steel lower body that cannot be moved. All parts of the Polestar 1 that are not common with Volvo have been replaced with carbon fiber at all costs, trying to make up for the SPA platform ’s innate ” Not qualified “.
However, the result is still not ideal. A good body-in-white can’t be achieved by making up for the innate. To ensure the rigidity required as a high-performance sports car, even if the crazy use of carbon fiber is so expensive that the body in white is still significantly overweight, the rigidity of the body will reach the standard. So if you look back at the official picture released by Polarstar, you will find that Polarstar will always find a clever angle to “hide” the steel lower body behind the carbon fiber, and actively highlight the carbon fiber part of the Polarstar 1 body.
(Carbon fiber rear body parts, picture: Polestar)
With such a body-in-white body as the base, the final kerb quality of Polarstar 1 is up to 2.3 tons! You should know that this is the weight of a medium-to-large SUV, even more than the BMW 8 Series that is two laps larger than Polestar 1 Tons) . In fact, it is also a hybrid. The 4.6-meter-long two-door coupe Pole Star 1 is as heavy as the 5-meter-long three-row SUV ideal ONE. Even though Polestar has repeatedly emphasized that this is a GT sports car, the implication is that it will be heavier, the track is not important, and road comfort is given priority, but even by GT standards, Polestar 1 is also overweight (The BMW 8 Series mentioned earlier is also GT) .
If the Pole Star 1 is just a mainstream price model, it ’s not a big deal to be slightly overweight. However, for a Pole Star brand halo priced comparable to the Porsche 911, the awkward body design and overweight body weight can hardly be ignored.
Suicide of “Model 3 Killer”
Polestar has high hopes for Kaishan’s work, Polestar 1. It is produced in the exclusive Chengdu factory, and a delivery center and test track are also built around the site for car owners to experience the scene while picking up the car. But obviously, a double-door coupe with RMB 1.45 million is used as a brand halo, but not as a pillar. Immediately after that, the Polar Star 2 produced by Taizhou Luqiao will be delivered in the middle of this year, which is the new car that Li Shufu came out with.
Pole Star 1 is responsible for attracting attention, and Pole Star 2 is of course used to harvest sales, so this is a standard four-door sedan pure electric car ( Polestar officially called five doors, because Polestar 2 tailgate is a hatchback opening tailgate) .
From Pole Star 1 to Pole Star 2, hybrid to pure electricity, however, the entire Geely Group has no ready-made platform architecture specially developed for pure electricity. Geely Group has developed a PMA platform for electric vehicles from scratch, and has not yet produced a mass-production model. So Pole Star 2, and other electric vehicle products of Geely GroupThe same is based on the improvement of the fuel vehicle platform. The basis of Pole Star 2 is the CMA modular platform shared by Geely Volvo, which is equivalent to XC40, Link grams and Xingyue.
Commonly known as oil to electricity.
Fairly speaking, because the CMA platform is a new platform that was only launched in 2016, the design for hybrid and electric power reservations is actually more than the previous old platform, so the pure electric pole star 2 performance must be stronger than before. Those “oil-to-electricity” tricks to rush to make up cars. The Pole Star 2 has a 71kWh battery pack installed on the 4.6-meter-long body. Under the premise of having a 100-second performance in 5 seconds, the NEDC standard endurance is 450km. It can be said that one foot can reach the endurance of the current new pure electric vehicle.
But Pole Star 2 chose an overly powerful opponent, Tesla Model 3.
Since the very beginning, Polar Star has continuously shaped the “personal design” of “Model 3 Killer” for Polar Star 2. The previous release and marketing activities have brought Model 3 comparison almost everywhere. However, until now, Pole Star 2 is really about to be put into production and delivery, but found that facing the domestic low-cost Tesla has almost no advantage.
Some people say that pure electric vehicles can’t just look at the battery life, which is true, but the premise is that the battery life of the two sides of the comparison is not much different. Pole Star 2 is priced at 418 thousand yuan, and now this price can already buy the Perform with the top of Model 3ance high-performance version. Not only is the power much stronger, the comprehensive range of 530km also exceeds the 450km of Polarstar 2. Not to mention, if you value battery life, the long-endurance Model 3 of 668km only needs 340,000 yuan, which is more than half of the more expensive pole star 2! And if you think that the 450km endurance of Polar Star 2 is enough, the cheapest Model 3 has dropped to 270,000 yuan and there is still room for decline. No matter how it compares, Polarstar 2 ’s disadvantage in terms of battery life / price is too great, and any other advantages are not enough to make up for it.
In addition to battery life, what are the advantages of Pole Star 2?
(Öhlins + Brembo + P Zero, luxury)
Polestar is a racing car after all, and Polestar is full of confidence in performance control. During the racing period, Polestar established a close relationship with Öhlins, the top high-performance modified shock absorber. Even if Polestar has changed its identity, it can still get Öhlins’ “VIP treatment” for its customized shock absorbers. The extremely expensive Pole Star 1 will naturally not fall, and Pole Star 2 is also equipped with Öhlins front and rear DFV double-flow valve shock absorbers. This shock absorber system has up to 22 steps of adjustment, and the adjustable range reaches 50%, which is a modification of the equipment that players dream of. In addition to shock absorption, another key performance feature promoted by Polarstar is Brembo brake calipers. Although it is not comparable to the akeakeo on Polarstar 1, it is also a famous big name.
However, do n’t rush into excitement. First of all, Brembo calipers are limited to the front wheels, and secondly, you need to add 42,000 to the car price of 418,000 yuan-yes, they are not standard. This 42,000 yuan can also be exchanged for a larger inch wheel, golden seat belt, some black parts, some golden parts.
The question of value and worthlessness comes first, after all, a set of Öhlins DFV suspension is worth tens of thousands of yuan in the refit market. The problem is, first of all, Öhlins suspension is a modified brand, which is not what most people need and can accept. This is highlighted by the fact that, unlike the air suspension and DCC suspension that you imagine in the mid-end car, which lightly presses the button, the fine 22 sections of this set of Öhlins shock absorbers require you to get out and adjust them manually.
Furthermore, the Öhlins suspension of Pole Star 1 is standard. The adjuster is placed on the reserved position on the top of the tower. You can start by lifting the cover. For Pole Star 2, because of the innate structure, you have to reach into the inside of the wheel and directly screw the adjustment knob on the shock absorber. Yes, you have to extend it four times to adjust the four wheels.
(Pole Star 1 ’s Öhlins suspension adjustment)
(Polar Star 2 ’s shock absorber adjustment position)
For those hardcore modified players, this may be a happy hands-on process. But the reason why the car modification circle is niche is, of course, because most people do n’t need it. Not to mention, Jixing 2 is a standard household electric car, and the group it faces has little intersection with the petro heads who are obsessed with modification.
At the time of publicity, it said that Öhlins had strong shock absorbers and Brembo brakes were hard. However, you really found out that the first step is to add money and add a lot of money. Secondly, although these things are powerful, they are too troublesome for family cars and I don’t need it at all. With these shining equipments removed, Pole Star 2 can really have the so-called “control advantages of traditional car companies” in the face of Tesla? You should know that Model 3 is not Model S. Tesla, which has built a high-performance electric vehicle for nearly ten years, is not the player who only knew stupidity. The control performance of Model 3 is high enough regardless of the evaluations given by domestic and foreign companies.
Counting down, the advantages of Pole Star 2 facing Model 3 are probably only the interior and quality, and these are not enough to hedge off the huge disadvantages of battery life and price.
Invalid accumulation
Polestar is an old brand, it has more than 20 years of racing history, especially more than ten years of experience in high-performance car modification and production. But Polestar is a newborn, and he is engaged in businesses that he has never been involved in: mass production, pure electric vehicles, and family cars. It’s like a chef who has been cooking Cantonese cuisine for 20 years. As the owner, he opened the Jiahui restaurant. Who can guarantee that the chef has high skills, and the new restaurant will be prosperous?
According to the general new brand marketing strategy, Polestar tried to use high-performance coupe Polestar 1 to open up the situation, but in the end Polestar 1 lacked a sense of presence in the ultra-high-end market of 1.5 million yuan; Polestar subsequently used mainstream The four-door sedan Pole Star 2 came to get the first pot of gold, but Pole Star 2 lacked competitiveness in front of its opponents such as Model 3 and even Wei Lai. The real hope of Polestar is to wait until Polestar 3 using the new PMA electric platform. However, it will take time for the PMA platform to bear fruit. The same group as Lynk, Geometry and Geely are all waiting to use it. It is unknown when the Jixing can take out the PMA production car. What can be achieved with the same platform The height of the test also tests the overall planning ability of Geely Group.