TWO BY NAME BUT NO 1 FOR STYLE AND PERFORMANCE

Scandinavian simplicity. You step into the Polestar 2, put your foot on the brake pedal and snick the neat gear selector into D and away you go. There is no starter button. There is no mode selection and there is no fake engine noise.

You might recognise the Volvo switchgear, but this will be the first time you’ve seen the unusual Polestar badge that is in front of you on the steering wheel boss.

I’ve long been looking forward to driving the Polestar 2. Polestar 1 was a limited edition and expensive high-performance car that is achingly beautiful; the Polestar 2 is the first large-volume electric car to come from Volvo’s new stand-alone brand. It’s a direct rival to Tesla’s huge-selling and extremely good Model 3.

What about the Polestar 2’s styling? It’s part-saloon, part-fastback, but almost has the stance of a crossover. I think it looks superb.

Praise that continues into the car’s interior – it has lovely materials and textures.

But strangely, while Polestar is heavily promoting the vegan angle of the car and its sustainability, our test car is fitted with optional leather upholstery. Yes, leather once fitted to a real cow.

Polestar is also very proud of the infotainment system. The

ipad-like touchscreen is mounted portrait-orientated on the centre of the dashboard like a Tesla’s.

Where the Polestar’s system differs is that it is the first car infotainment system that is powered by Google’s Android smartphone software (it’ll be compatible with iphones next year). You can assign your Google profile to your car and then go mad adding apps for musicstreaming, online news etc.

It also features Google Assistant that provides much more sophisticated voice control than voice recognition usually does. We barely touched the surface of what

We’ve already tested a version of Volvo’s excellent XC40 with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, and now the Swedish company has added a further PHEV to the XC40 catalogue. It’s powered by a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine, just like the T5 version we tested, but with 129bhp instead of the 179bhp of the T5, and the same 82bhp electric motor. The key reason for introducing this T4 model is that it’s priced under £40,000 – saving the £325 VED surcharge. The T4 is available in two trims: R-design at £39,130 and Inscription at £39,475. The order books are open now with deliveries starting in October.