Nordic-style Greetings
Be a little low-key.
Standing in front of this sharp-edged and fresh-colored matte white GT, I did what I always wanted to do: tap its sharply shaped rear wing board that seems hard to manufacture with stamping technology.
I tasted it a little.
……
When I came back to my senses, I found that my cheek muscles were slightly tense. Nothing else, it’s because my two corners of the mouth are not at their default height.
At that time, my inner OS was like this:
Wow! This hitting feeling with no displacement! And this sound that is obviously not the lingering sound of steel plate, but a crisp sound even sharper than aluminum alloy, what is it?
2 seconds later:
What is this crisp and hard thing? Oh my god! Carbon fiber!
Nordic-style Rebellion
Gold Axe and Silver Axe? Sorry, my hammer of Thor is just an iron axe.
Being despised by others
So, is it light-weight because it uses carbon fiber? Actually, it’s not, and it weighs as much as 2,350 kg.
Then, is it fast? It doesn’t seem so, because its 0-100 km/h acceleration is only 4.2 seconds.
What’s even more brutal is that this is a GT sports car, but it only has four cylinders, and it’s also driven by an AISIN 8-speed automatic transmission to the front wheels.
A GT that costs 1.45 million RMB, is it really that bad? Maybe your understanding of these numbers is not quite in place.
A 4-cylinder “front-wheel-drive car” can actually have the ability to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds? And this is achieved when dragging a heavyweight body of nearly 2.4 tons?
Is this better? But it seems that the initial question has not been answered yet. Why is it still so heavy when it uses carbon fiber?
Three parts destined, seven parts hard work
This car has four power sources:
- 326 horsepower 2.0L four-cylinder, turbocharged engine;
- 68 horsepower ISG motor for engine assistance;
- Two 116 horsepower motors drive the left and right rear wheels respectively and provide torque vectoring.Unfortunately, for the hybrid GT carrying an internal combustion engine, transmission, fuel tank, two battery packs, three electric motors, and four seats, lightweight construction is no longer the main focus. Although the use of carbon fiber in the upper body has reduced the car’s weight by 230 kg, it has also brought many benefits.
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The use of carbon fiber does not only lead to weight reduction. We need to consider why carbon fiber enables lightweight construction, it’s because it is strong enough. Besides avoiding this car from becoming a 2.5-ton hybrid monster, carbon fiber’s biggest help is increasing the car’s torsional stiffness by 45%.
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The upper half of the car body is made of low-density carbon fiber, which obviously lowers the center of gravity. Coupled with the distribution of two battery packs, this “front-wheel-drive car” has a 48:52 front-to-rear weight distribution, similar to the flagship Ferrari V12 front-engine rear-wheel drive model.
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The slim A-pillars and flowing roofline are also thanks to carbon fiber.
In addition to the car company in Gothenburg that invented the seat belt, Sweden also has a carmaker with aviation background but bumpy road. They were not satisfied with the platform arranged by the group, so they crazily modified it.
For safety, several layers of steel plates can be built into individual parts of the company’s products; for simplicity, even the infotainment system can be thrown away and redeveloped from scratch. This company that once dominated the industry’s safety scores even failed, though it can easily perform high-speed cornering.
This “only those who know it” car is obviously still based on the SPA platform. But whether it is the full carbon fiber upper body, dragonfly-shaped carbon fiber reinforcement parts or the orange high-voltage wires presented solemnly in the trunk, I can see the rebelliousness of Swedish automotive engineers against platform constraints in this car priced at 1.45 million, with a deposit of 250,000.
Perhaps, some of the excellent engineers from that engineering culture company that took themselves too seriously and went bankrupt were absorbed into this emerging North European car brand. Now I increasingly feel that this car produced in the Chengdu factory gives me a pure Swedish flavor.
Moreover, this is the first carbon fiber car produced in mass production in China without the company going bankrupt. It can be said that it has completed the mission for the “dragonfly” brand electric sports car.
Nordic Austerity### Calm and Composed
A two-door GT sports car costing over a million seems lacking in product competitiveness without a set of three-chamber air suspension with variable damping. However, this car has an iron-clad front end. It comes with a set of coil-over shock absorbers, with damping manually adjustable in 22 stages.
“Is it reasonable to install a modification on a car costing over a million?”
Some may question. However, If that’s what you also think, it’s just that you don’t understand.
Why? When you drive this car, all the uneven roads seem to have been filtered through a lens. Nothing is considered uneven unless felt through the buttocks, sharp corners are rounded, and potholes are evened out into small bumps. Bumps? Become flat.
The exclusive formula for this car is the 21-inch Pirelli P-Zero tires with a width of 275 in the front and 295 in the rear, with a flatness ratio of 30, which is exceptional in the supercar field.
Could such a wide tire provide stability? It does not seem to have any statistical relationship with the unevenness of the road. You can go straight or make any turns, and everything would be under perfect control. I thought there would be a dynamic feedback when making emergency lane changes in such a heavy car, but it turns out there is nothing but complete calmness.
This suspension is the Öhlins DFV set that comes from the factory. In fact, I already mentioned in a previous article how amazing the Öhlins DFV set is.
Some readers even shared this story on their social media profiles.
However, that’s where the role of Öhlins ends. Driving this car on the road brings you a feeling that is not that dramatic, and it does not make you feel overwhelmingly happy. Instead, it brings you a sense of inexplicable power.
It’s like being in a dust-free, pure white space, with no clear boundaries between the walls, floors, and ceilings. You use a high-power industrial-grade steam iron to completely flatten that high-support cotton towel that you brought home today, smoothing out the direction of the fibers in the process.
No surprises.
Why are electric platform vehicles generally heavier than comparable models, yet easier to handle? This is because the best way to conceal weight is to lower the center of gravity, and improving response is more helpful to driving pleasure than increasing power.
2,350 kg is quite heavy, but its center of gravity is low and in the middle of the wheelbase. While it is a four-cylinder engine, it has three electric motors that provide torque assistance with a response time of only tens of milliseconds. The driving pleasure of an electric vehicle can be found in this car, and more.
When the battery is low, the intervention of the motor is not as intense, and the perceived response brought by non-limit throttle operation at daily speeds does indeed deteriorate. Due to frequent use of the low-speed range of the internal combustion engine during this time, the twin-turbocharged engine becomes another scenic spot. I discovered a new pleasure in this hidden spot, enjoying the groaning of mechanical turbocharging.
Compared to turbocharging that is more suitable for high speeds, supercharging driven directly by the engine power through a mechanical transmission has no speed lag and is more suitable for low-speed supercharging. And because it is mechanically transmitted, it will emit a sharp mechanical noise. But for car enthusiasts, this is music. In comparison, the so-called music played by the luxury sound system composed of B&W aluminum hemispherical tweeters and Kevlar mid-bass units in the car is just background music.
By the way, according to third-party tests on the internet, the acceleration performance when the battery is low is only 0.2 seconds slower than the best state. No doubt, even in this state, it is still a high-performance car and does not become a front-wheel drive family car just because the battery is low.
No stimulation
There is no need to say much about the hard power of Akebono monoblock 6-piston brakes. Together with the 400mm oversized split-type cast iron disc, the rigidity of this brake system is amazing. When the autohold function is turned on, experiencing the exceptionally solid friction noise when releasing the brake during start-up shows how strong the installation of the entire brake system is and how fierce the bite of the disc is. However, such braking force combined with the very sporty short travel setting is indeed a big challenge at low speeds.The electric power steering system is not very popular among car enthusiasts because it is synonymous with poor handling. Unfortunately, this car also has an electric power steering system. However, it is worth noting that the return torque is not as artificial and aggressive as that of today’s electric cars, and the required steering force is not so high that it makes you feel like you are driving a go-kart. The power assistance is also very natural when the speed changes, and you can easily turn the wheel with one hand. Moreover, the stability increases when the speed increases.
Nordic Arrogance
I don’t want to sell it, but the buyer must understand.
Inner Beauty
This car has a very unique taste. If describing other cars as “plain water”, it may be derogatory and meaningless. However, the “plain water” of this car is a restrained sense of beauty.
The senior chassis development engineer Joakim Rydholm, who started participating in rally races at the age of 15 and has won races in various sizes in his home country, is responsible for the chassis tuning of this car. With more than 20 years of experience and more than 30 years of racing experience, he clearly knows how to make a car fast and how to make people of all kinds accept such speed.
However, this car also has issues that even tuning masters cannot solve. For example, there is the torque steering that occasionally appears under heavy acceleration. Although designed by former Bentley designers, the interior has a strong corporate feel. Moreover, there is the brake master cylinder that frequently activates auto hold during reverse due to excessive power assistance. All these repeatedly emphasize that it is not designed for high performance, but rather for its original platform. Nevertheless, experiencing the diversified development background of this car that is marked by fragmentation, struggle, helplessness, and breakthrough is an important part of its cultural and historical value.
Nordic Mythology
The product logic of this car is actually not cold, but rather very charming. The carbon fiber body, Öhlins suspension, and the mechanical and electric boost that produce a pleasant and powerful sound are all presented in a GT sports car packaging.
It is a carbon-fiber sports car that can be used in daily life. As long as the scene permits, it can even be a zero-emission sports car. On top of this kind of product, you can experience a highly personalized but complete passive mechanical suspension tuning; you can also enjoy the fun of modifying a family car platform to the point where even your parents won’t recognize it; you can explore all kinds of subtle Nordic design details; and don’t forget, its power parameters are also worthy of its price: 626 horsepower, 1,000 N·m.
This car is unprecedented and incomparable.
How many people understand Søren Kierkegaard’s existentialism and the experience behind his creation of “The Scream”? How many people care?
Anyway, those who can appreciate this car don’t need to read this article.
I am too lazy to explain why a four-cylinder engine is used instead of others. It is already the optimal solution for this car…
It has nothing to do with sales, and it doesn’t matter if no one understands it. It is a perfect imperfection.
I think the name Polestar 1 has become synonymous with Modern Classic.
To become a star, it is enough.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.