Polestar might be a high-tech, all-electric brand now. But it was established in Sweden in 1996 as a racing team. “Our history comes from motorsports,” said Christian Samson, Polestar’s global head of product attributes. “That legacy and the knowledge of these racing technologies remain in the company.” Samson traveled from the company’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, to Northern California to answer questions from journalists during the media drive for the Polestar 2 BST.
Samson also loved how the Polestar skunkworks project imbued the car with track qualities. But as the company’s chief of product attributes, he knew the car had to be comfortable for everyday driving. “Normally, lowering the car for extreme performance would make it almost unbearable on public roads. It would be super shaky,” he said.Tweaking software wasn’t the answer.
Öhlins already supplies suspension components for the performance version of the Polestar 2, which scoots to 60 miles per hour in 4.3 seconds. However, for the BST version, Polestar wanted even more control. So its engineers worked with Öhlins to increase the fluid reservoirs used by the compression valve by creating bespoke remote twin canisters. The canisters were so visually striking that Polestar decided to show them off under the hood.
The prominent location of the Öhlins canisters makes it easier for owners to manually adjust rebound damping.“It’s very analog,” said Samson. “These units are completely disconnected from the electrical system.” Other old-school performance mods applied to the limited-edition EV include a front strut-tower brace for stiffness, cross-drilled brake rotors and four-piston Brembo calipers, and 21-inch wheels with bespoke Pirelli P Zero tires. Polestar will produce only 270 Polestar BST units.
During the car’s development process, Polestar engineers would refine the tech and hand over the vehicle to the CEO for a drive. They would say, “Thomas, here’s the beast.” Hence, the name of the special model: Polestar 2 BST. Those letters are not an acronym.