By Sebastian Blanco

Swedish premium electric performance car brand Polestar unveiled an experimental Polestar 2 EV at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK. (Polestar)

Polestar, the independent Swedish electric performance car brand founded by Volvo and Geely, only sells two models: the Polestar 1 hybrid and the Polestar 2 electric vehicle (EV). But there is variety to be found in that small lineup, as the brand’s appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed shows.

This year, Polestar brought an experimental version of the Polestar 2 to highlight what is possible when the company’s engineers flex a bit. The new EV is painted in Snow Matte and looks mostly like a standard Polestar 2. Look closer, though, and you will see a lot of tweaks here and there. Both the front and rear bumpers are slightly different, and there’s a conspicuous Magnesium Matte racing stripe running down the middle. The gloss black side mirrors stand out from the black-and-white grille and two-tone 21-inch wheels.

The experimental vehicle is 30 millimeters lower than a stock Polestar 2, and its track is 20 mm wider. Additionally, the wheel arches are wider to fit the Akebono front brakes and the 275/30R21 Pirelli PZero Rosso performance tires from the Polestar 1. The suspension springs are stiffer (up 80 percent in front, 40 percent more in back), and Polestar added a carbon fiber front suspension strut bar from a Volvo S60 Polestar Engineered to make the EV even more rigid. The Experimental Polestar 2 gets performance boosts as well, with the power output increased to 476 horsepower from the standard long-range, dual-motor Polestar 2’s 408 hp.

The annual Goodwood festival is an important space for Polestar. The brand debuted a prototype version of the Polestar 1 to the public there back in 2018. Polestar’s then-chief test driver, Joakim Rydholm, now the company’s chief chassis engineer, drove that car. Rydholm will take the experimental Polestar 2 on hill-climb runs during this year’s event.

The EV that will be on hand at Goodwood this year is not the only special Polestar 2 in existence. Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said that he’s been driving a different experimental version, nicknamed ‘Beast,’ on the company’s Gothenburg campus. The Beast inspired the Goodwood version, but Polestar revealed no performance details for that EV.

Polestar will soon add more models to its small lineup; the limited-edition Polestar 1 will soon end production. The brand unveiled a concept vehicle called the Precept that will inform a future production model, and a Polestar 3 electric SUV is also in the works.