Polestar manufactures the Polestar 3 at a South Carolina plant and warned last year that any ban on sales would “stop the operations of a legally organized American company with significant US investments.”
“The U.S. is an important market for us,” Kim Palmer, Polestar’s head of public relations, tells WIRED. “We’re in the advanced stages of adapting our future models to make sure they’re compliant in terms of hardware, software and suppliers,” Palmer added, proposing to specify non-Chinese software and other materials.
However, Loeschler may have to block the Trump administration from selling its US-made cars in the US. Trump’s opposition to electric cars is well-known, but it’s unclear to what extent Tesla CEO Elon Musk will influence America’s policies on electric cars.
“It’s an unusual conflict of interest to see the CEO of Tesla involved in any way with electric vehicle policy across the country,” said Peter Wells, a business professor and director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. There is so much potential [for Musk] to rewrite the rules in Tesla’s best interests.”
If this proves to be the case, it could be very difficult for Polestar to dislodge it. Perhaps that is why Löschler emphasized the centrality of Polestar in France in his presentation. A trademark dispute with Citroen – the company claimed the Polestar logo was too similar to its own – had previously prevented Polestar sales in the French market.
However, there is a potential snafu. Potential Polestar buyers are not yet eligible for France’s EV subsidy. “Polestar is not on the list of companies that France has approved for its ecological bonus,” Wells says. That doesn’t mean they can’t participate in the future, but if they can’t qualify for the plan, they have a motivation problem.
Lochscheller said 2024 was a transition year for Polestar, and now the company will return to a traditional dealer-based sales model.
“A lot of things had to change, starting with sales and distribution,” Lochschler said. I call it show-to-proactive sales. The company has done a good job of setting the direct-to-consumer baseline, now the main task is to ensure active sales improvement through retail partners. So more exhibitions and less reliance on online sales – old thinking.
“We [retail] There are currently 25 Polestar showrooms in Sweden, 20 more than last year, and 20 in the UK, Lochschler said, pointing to the fact that there are currently 25 Polestar showrooms in Sweden.
“By expanding dealership sales, Polestar will be able to reach more customers and thus increase overall sales volume,” Stephanie Valdez-Streeti, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive, publisher of Kelley Blue Book, told WIRED. “Customers are more invested in a brand they can interact with and trust,” he says.
Wells agrees: “Polestar, under new leadership, is now finally focusing on being better at retail and getting better at making money. They’re going back to traditional. [automotive] Selling model and presenting itself to consumers in a less exotic way.
Wells says Lochschler instills “a sense of conservatism, trying to cut costs, increase volume, adopt a more traditional marketing strategy and generate enough revenue to survive” at Polestar.
Polestar cars are available in 27 countries. Production of the Polestar 4 will begin in the second half of 2025 in South Korea. The Polestar 5, a GT rival to the Porsche Taycan, is due to go on sale later this year and is based on the brand’s first bespoke EV architecture. Streaty claims the proposed Polestar 7 could do well in the US. “Developing a vehicle in the premium compact SUV segment is a smart move,” he says.
With at least two years to break even, Polestar will likely need more funding to reach profitability. But Wales claims that Polestar – which relies on the support of its ultimate Chinese owner – may not have two years. China’s electric car market is booming, but there is a lot of competition, with prices falling wildly. The risk for Polestar is that their sponsorship may not last. The Polestar may turn out to be too much of an extravagance for Geely. Market conditions are moving faster than company strategic plans.
