• Ability to run on pure electric power
• Servicing and insurance costs will likely be high
• Low CO2 emission output

The running costs of a £139,000 GT car are usually quoted in telephone numbers, yet because the Polestar 1 benefits from a plug-in hybrid powertrain, things are far more reasonable. Sure, you’ll need to stump up a sizeable amount of cash for insurance and servicing yet fuel economy far outweighs any rivals (BMW i8 excluded), with the same applying to company car tax (CO2 output is rated at 15g/km).

Indeed, if your commute to work is, say, 30 miles each way, you could quite feasibly avoid spending a penny on unleaded, instead relying on the 1’s two 85kW motors. Charging costs will of course vary depending on the type of charger and time of day – if you’re using a domestic supply. We’ve not yet calculated residual values, although logic dictates that as production is limited to just 1,500 examples, they should stay strong.

Will it be reliable?

• Shares a platform (and many parts) with Volvo S90
• We’ve not heard any major reliability concerns
• Manually adjustable suspension means less to go wrong

Admittedly, there’s quite a lot to potentially go wrong with the Polestar 1 (as there is with all GT cars in this price range), yet since we’ve seen no major complaints about the reliability of recent Volvos on this platform, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Indeed, many of the parts, from the cabin, switchgear and engine, are taken from other tried-and-tested Volvo products.