Polestar builds the Polestar 3 at a factory in South Carolina, and warned last year That any sales ban “disqualifies the operations of a legally organized US company with substantial US investment.”
“The US is an important market for us,” Kim Palmer, head of Polestar PR, told WIRED. Suggesting the specifications of non-Chinese software and other materials, Palmer says: “We are in the advanced stages of optimizing our future models to ensure they meet the regulation in terms of hardware, software and suppliers.” Let's comply.”
Still, Loessler may have to seek a waiver from the Trump administration to sell its American-made cars in the US. Trump's Indifference towards EVs Well known, but it's not clear how much US EV policy will be Influenced by Tesla CEO Elon Musk,
“It is an unusual conflict of interest to see the Tesla CEO involved in any way in the EV policy of an entire country,” said Peter Wells, a business professor and director of the Automotive Industry Research Center at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. “There is a huge potential for Musk to rewrite the rules to suit Tesla's best interests.”
If this proves to be the case, it could be very difficult for Polestar to obtain a waiver. Perhaps that's why, in his presentation, Lohscheller emphasized Polestar's pivot to France. A trademark dispute with Citroën – the company claimed Polestar's logo was also similar to its own– Previously the Polestar was prevented from being sold in the French market.
However, there is a potential pitfall. Potential Polestar buyers are not yet eligible for France's EV subsidies. “Polestar is not on the list of companies that France has approved to qualify for their ecological bonus,” says Wells. “That doesn't mean they can't get involved in the future, but if they don't qualify for that plan, they have an incentive problem.”
Lochscheller said 2024 has been a transition year for Polestar, and now the company will return to a more traditional dealership-based sales model.
“A lot of things need to change,” Lochscheller said, “starting with sales and distribution. I call it from showing up to active selling. The company has done a good job establishing a direct-to-consumer baseline. The main task now is to ensure that active sales are improving through retail partners. Again, more showrooms, and less reliance on online sales—old school thinking.
“Our [retail] The footprint is growing,'' Lochscheller said, citing the fact that there are now 25 Polestar showrooms in Sweden, up 20 from last year, and 20 in the UK, up from eight last year.
“By expanding dealership sales, Polestar can reach more customers, which will increase overall sales volume,” Stephanie Valdez Streete, director of industry insights for Cox Automotive, publisher of the Kelley Blue Book vehicle evaluator, told WIRED. “Customers are more likely to invest in a brand they can interact with and trust,” she says.
Wells agrees: “Polestar, under new leadership, is now ultimately going to focus on being better at retail and getting better at bringing in revenue. They're going back to traditional [automotive] sales model and presenting ourselves to consumers in a less exotic way.”
Lochscheller, says Wells, is instilling in Polestar “a spirit of conservatism, an effort to cut costs, increase volume, adopt more traditional marketing tactics and generate enough revenue to survive.”
Polestar cars are available in 27 countries. Production of the Polestar 4 will begin in South Korea in the second half of 2025. The Polestar 5, a Porsche Taycan-rival GT, is due to go on sale later this year and is based on the brand's. First special EV architectureStreety claims that the proposed Polestar 7 could perform well in the US. “Developing a vehicle in the premium compact SUV segment is a smart move,” she says.
Since break-even is still at least two years away, Polestar will need additional financing to reach profitability. But Wells claims Polestar – which is dependent on the support of its last Chinese owner – may not even have two years to go. “The Chinese EV market is booming, but there is a lot of competition with massive price cuts. The risk for Polestar is that their financial backing will not last. The Polestar may turn out to be too much of a waste for Geely. “Market conditions are moving faster than the company's strategic plans.”