STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden’s Polestar, the electric car maker controlled by Volvo and its parent, the Chinese automaker Geely, has raised $550 million in external funding, the company said on Thursday. The financing is Polestar’s first external funding and comes amid a year of sustained sales and share price growth for electric vehicle (EV) makers such as Tesla Inc and Nio Inc. “Our new investors have recognised that Polestar offers an alluring combination of established industrial and technological capability alongside superlative growth potential as the global auto industry goes electric,” Polestar’s CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement emailed to Reuters. The funding will help accelerate product development and output as Polestar prepares to launch new car models in the coming years, the company said in a statement. Polestar builds hybrid performance cars in the western Chinese city of Chengdu and a sedan model at its Taizhou plant in the east. It also has a new model in development called Precept, a larger, more environmentally friendly sedan which it displayed at last year’s China auto show. Chinese investors Chongqing Chengxing Equity Investment Fund Partnership and Zibo led the funding and were backed by South Korean investor I Cube Capital, Polestar said. Polestar added it is in ongoing discussions with other investors about additional fund raising.