Polestar, the spin-off of Volvo, is opening a research and development centre in the UK.

The new facility is situated in Coventry, deep in the UK's automotive heartland, and will allow the company to further develop its electric performance vehicles which are being built in a purpose-built facility in China.

It will employ approximately 60 engineers to work on the company's future projects, which will follow on from the Polestar 1 performance coupe, the Polestar 2 five-door fastback, and the upcoming Polestar 3 SUV.

Polestar UK R&D base

"Investing in the automotive engineering talent that the UK has to offer will strengthen our capabilities," said Thomas Ingenlath, the chief executive officer at Polestar. "The passion and dedication of these great engineers fit the Polestar spirit perfectly and will allow us to create some really awesome cars."

Hans Pehrson, responsible for research and development at Polestar, added: "Polestar’s role as a technology spearhead requires new and developing skills in low-volume, light-weight, multi-material performance car engineering, and the new UK operation will allow us to take the next steps towards our future cars.

Polestar 1 testing

"The team that will kick start the new UK R&D subsidiary is already well-versed in Polestar engineering philosophy, and we will expand the initial team further during the course of 2019. These engineers will be a great complement to our existing R&D team based in Sweden, and other supporting teams around the world."

Gallery: Polestar 1 production prototypes