(Yicai) April 24 -- Polestar Automotive Holding, a Swedish electric carmaker owned by Volvo Cars and its parent company China's Geely Automobile Holdings, unveiled its first smartphone and began offering it for free to car buyers.

Priced at CNY7,388 (USD1,020), the Polestar Phone has a senseless connection, hardware collaboration, and computing power-sharing with the operating system of Polestar's autos, the Gothenburg-based luxury electric vehicle brand said at a launch event yesterday.

Polestar also introduced two new editions of its electric sport utility vehicle model, the Polestar 4, with a standard mileage Plus version using a single electric motor being priced at CNY339,900 (USD46,920) and a long mileage Plus version using dual electric motors costing CNY399,900. The prices are the same as the models' previous editions, but a free Polestar Phone is added for each buyer.

Polestar and cellphone vendor Xingji Meizu, also owned by Geely, set up a joint venture last June to develop a car OS. The pair also planned to introduce smart products, including phones, augmented reality, and virtual reality terminals.

Established in 2017, Polestar went public on the New York stock market through a special purpose acquisition company in June 2022. In February, Volvo announced it would lower its stake in the firm from 48 percent to 18 percent and no longer support it financially.

Polestar delivered 7,200 cars in the first quarter, including 1,200 Polestar 4s in China, according to its latest data. In February, it secured USD950 million from an international bank consortium to support its next-stage development.

As competition intensifies in China's EV market, some automakers build a better interaction experience by developing handsets to attract consumers. EV startup Nio launched the Nio Phone last September and gifted the CNY6,499 device to car buyers in March.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev