QOTD: Student Becomes the Instructor?

There are two good examples in the automotive sphere of the student ascending to stand alongside the teacher. AMG, once the in-house skunkworks at Mercedes-Benz that breathed (sometimes psychotic levels of) additional performance into mainstream cars is on a quest to become a full-line maker all of its own. Now, we learn of Polestar’s aspirations in a similar wheelhouse.

Here is today’s question: what other trim line (performance or otherwise) do you think deserves a shot on the big stage?

AMG has, in recent years, been knocking a few baseballs out of the park. Starting with the SLS, it delivered a gullwinged coupe of Super Leicht Sport proportions. It was the first Mercedes-Benz designed and built from scratch entirely by AMG. Lighter, slipperier, and a heckuva lot cheaper than the Mercedes McLaren SLR, the SLS was, per Mercedes-AMG head Tobias Moers, the faster car on the track, both in the hands of normal drivers as well as race drivers. Now, the company is planning a GT four-door coupe, intended to live above the E63 S on Merc’s side of the showroom.

Meanwhile, Polestar is on a quest of its own, if of a more electrified nature. Its name first became common on the lips of gearheads with the hotting-up of staid Volvos, particularly in its trademark shade of Rebel Blue. Both S60 and V60 models got the Polestar treatment, producing machines with inline-fours supercharged and turbocharged making 360-plus horsepower. The marque now wants to expand its purview into cars of its own — starting with the Polestar 1, a 591 hp coupe set for a debut in 2020.

What trim or model do you think should be building their own vehicles using the business examples described above? BMW’s M? The Corvette line? Denali? Or maybe there’s an example from the past (good or bad) you’d like to mention.

[Image: Polestar]