Originally an independent motorsport team dedicated to racing Volvos, Polestar would later start tuning Volvo road cars and eventually be bought out by the Swedish automaker.

Volvo’s original plan for Polestar was to make it an alternative to BMW M and Mercedes-AMG. But on Wednesday the automaker announced that it has turned Polestar into a new standalone brand focused on high-performance electrified cars.

Polestar cars will share “technological and engineering” aspects with Volvo cars, although they won’t carry any Volvo logos. Polestar will also continue to offer upgrades for Volvo cars, under the new Polestar Engineered label.

Crucially, Polestar will sit alongside Volvo, Lynk & Co and Lotus in Chinese automaker Geely’s portfolio of global brands. This means we should see Polestar cars sold in the United States.

Thomas Ingenlath

Thomas Ingenlath

Serving as CEO at Polestar will be Thomas Ingenlath. The former Audi exec is also Volvo’s design boss and was responsible for the current design theme introduced with the second-generation XC90 SUV.

“I am really excited to take up the challenge of establishing this exciting brand, developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channeling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team,” Ingenlath said in a statement. “The next chapter in Polestar’s history is just beginning.”

The news comes just a week after it was reported that Polestar was working on an electric sports car. Polestar’s vice president of product strategy and R&D, Henrik Fries, also told Motor Authority in March that Polestar’s future was all about electrification and that the company would spearhead the development of the technology at Volvo.

Polestar says it will announce further details on its plans in the fall. An announcement at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show in September is a strong possibility.