Polestar sets up wholly-owned spin-off in China – Jixing

Volvo’s electric car brand Polestar registered a wholly-owned subsidiary in Shanghai on 11 March. Polestar calls its China spin-off Jixing Automobile and has tasked it with the wholesale and retail of vehicles and auto parts.

Gasgoo, in its report on Jixing references Tianyancha, a platform for business data. According to their data, the new Limited Company has a share capital of 2.055 billion yuan (around 266 million euros). Jixing is the Chinese name for Polestar, the premium arm of Volvo and an entirely electrified brand, meaning it is to sell plug-in vehicles only using a direct sales model.

The new subsidiary Jixing is in good company as local Geely has been strengthening the Chinese appearance of its Volvo and Polestar brands. Earlier this month Polestar appointed Gao Hong, previously Volkswagen’s sales manager in China, as the new head of its China business. He reports directly to CEO Thomas Ingenlath and is expected to strengthen the brand’s local standing.

The Volvo offshoot is taking a risk coming to China with its high-price plug-ins but says it wants to mitigate it by offering high-quality products. So Polestar is using auditors with at least ten years of experience in quality control in manufacturing that is currently starting up.

Polestar’s production plant in Chengdu was opened in August 2019 to make the Polestar 1 PHEV coupe for China and export markets. Polestar is currently making 500 units of the plug-in hybrid per year in an initial production cycle of three years.

Meanwhile, the company is gearing up production of the Polestar 2 all-electric car at the Geely facility in Luqiao with deliveries to start later this year. The starting price for Polestar’s mass-market EV will be 298,000 yuan (€38,659) before subsidies. By comparison, the starting price of Tesla’s Model 3 made in China is now at 299,050 yuan after subsidies. Other competitors include Nio or Byton.

An SUV-like Polestar 3 also dubbed Precept is expected to follow, but the EV brand has yet to designate a production facility. There would be capacity at Chengdu at the latest by the end of 2022 when the Polestar 1 will phase out.

gasgoo.com (Jixing Ltd. Co.), reuters.com (Gao Hong)