Polestar CEO details new concept vehicle and the 'electric age' of sports cars

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath sits down with Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the automotive manufacturer's latest 02 Roadster EV, incorporating drone technology, and partnerships and IPO prospects to expand EV product lines.

Video transcript

- Electric performance car brand Polestar is revealing the Polestar O2 convertible that aims to provide sustainability combined with electric mobility. Joining us now with more is Thomas Ingenlath, who is the CEO of Polestar, and Yahoo Finance's own automotive and mobility reporter, Pras Subramanian. Great to have you both here with us for this conversation. First, let's dive in, Thomas, on why now was the time to reveal another concept like this and some of the features that we've already seen go viral within Polestar's newest edition of this sports car.

THOMAS INGENLATH: Yeah. Hi. Nice to join you here today. Well, why now? On one hand, of course, our company is fully concentrated on the program to deliver till 25 the Polestar 3, 4, and 5 to get into production. Having said that, we have to think about the future ahead, keep the vision alive, keep the research alive of what is all possible with the brand. And we discovered that this spot of an electric roadster is actually not covered at all right now. And we felt it's really an opportunity to show what electrification can do to this premium sports car segment.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Thomas. Pras here. I'm curious. We've seen a lot of EV concepts out coming out as SUVs, even pickup trucks. You mentioned the roadster. Is it necessary to do this to kind of make the EV seem more sexy?

THOMAS INGENLATH: Well, it was always a big part of our ambition to promote the new sustainable mobility, strive for all of the reduction of CO2 footprint, but at the same time, of course, make sure people understand that this is connected with a highly emotional great product and that the future of cars, the future of cars in an electric age, is as exciting as the old vintage cars and the glory of the sports cars that we love so much. So, yeah, definitely it's important to emphasize this.

- So there's also components of this car that really showcase some of the research and development. The dynamic response, in particular, comes to mind. And there's a larger question, perhaps, of how some of these new advancements lean on energy power any more so than, perhaps, preceding Polestar vehicles that are already in development?

THOMAS INGENLATH: Well, each and every work we do has, of course-- is the next step in getting the CO2 footprint down. We, again, have materials in the car still to be researched in terms of bringing them in production, but really putting that topic high up, bringing new sustainable materials that promote circularity, that promote keeping the natural fibers, replacing virgin plastic. All of that is part of our work. But then again, we bring as well features like the drone that you're showing here, which obviously go more into the psychology, how do we use cars in a modern time?

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Tom. So the O2 roadster, does this sort of hint at a possible car in the future? I know you're using a lot of new materials and technologies. Is that going to be kind of what we'll see as a roadster in the future? And also, that drone you just mentioned, we've been talking about it here in the office. We think it's really cool. How did that idea come about?

THOMAS INGENLATH: Well, that idea about the drone was born in a conversation that I actually had with Eric Li Shufu when I presented to him this roadster concept. And feedback from his side was remarkable. He said, look, isn't the idea of this fairly egocentric you driving on your own on a fast track on a country road, isn't that a bit the old-fashioned world? How can we bring that into the modern times? And the modern times is about sharing moments, sharing experiences, being together with somebody, taking footage that you actually can, A, remember, and then of course as well, share.

So we created the drone concept, the drone being launched from your car, following your car. You can either have a very calm footage of you driving in there or the drone makes a dramatic movie of zooming around the car and making really spectacular dynamic footage. And that to be a great memory for yourself, but as well of course, a memory that you can share and send to friends or the social media community.

- Yeah. I mean, that's really exciting. Once you make the purchase, you've got to be able to share what the experience is like, especially with a drone basically as your kind of guide to exactly how that experience is going within the car too. When you think about the production and the production synergies that you're going to try and move forward with as you have these next cars, launching three cars over the coming three years, starting in 2022, each of which has the potential to gradually resize some of the ideas presented by concept cars, how do you adequately source the materials necessary, and then essentially make sure that you do have that initial production target that is being able to be reached by the necessary materials that you also need to source?

THOMAS INGENLATH: Yeah. Our portfolio has cars, the Polestar 3, an SUV coming, which is jointly together with Volvo built on a new electric platform, which we, of course, have sourced already where we have production footprint which exists in the different parts of the world. The Polestar 3 will be together with the future electric Volvo produced, for example, in Charleston here in the US, for the US.

So this is, of course, us being part and having access to an industrial footprint gives us this preparation to really scale up our business. With what we show here, the O2, we have as well in preparation and bonded aluminum body that we use for what was a concept car precept. We will put it into production. Polestar 5 coming. This is, of course, very much our sports car architecture, which is fully on the way of development. And here we show what door that opens to the sports car segment, which we then can cover with Polestar as well.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: OK, Thom. And so your guys' big Super Bowl ad this year really introduced the brand, I feel like, to a larger audience here in the States. What was the origination of that ad concept? And what do you think it says about Polestar as a brand?

THOMAS INGENLATH: Well, how do you talk to your audience? How do you talk to your customer? I think it was our way of making a point about being clear in your message, being transparent, not making false promises, and becoming a modern brand. I think that we really wanted to make a point of how our communication with the customer, what we stand for is a different proposition.

- Just very briefly while we have you, we also know that Polestar also intends to list on the NASDAQ proposed business combination with Gores Guggenheim Inc, ticker symbol GGPI there. But what percent of the proceeds anticipated from this SPAC are going to go toward some of the vehicle launch goals?

THOMAS INGENLATH: Actually, of course, here at the rooftop of the Gores Building where we will present our O2 concept and our joint business, us going together with Gores Guggenheim, is, of course, a very appropriate project for Polestar with our growth plans. We are very happy having found this experienced partner who really is great in the months that we had and the weeks to come. And we are very much looking forward to finalize this business combination and confident that this will happen in the second quarter of this year.

- Excellent. Well, Thomas Ingenlath, it's been a pleasure to have this conversation with you and really exciting. We've got to get our hands on the vehicle as well here too. So we'll have to schedule a little test drive or something. It's Thomas Ingenlath, who is the CEO of Polestar joining us here and Yahoo Finance his own automotive and mobility reporter Pras Subramanian.