Polestar delivers fewer electric cars
With 11,900 electric cars delivered between the beginning of June and the end of September, Polestar has been below last year’s figure every quarter this year. In Q3, the decline was around 14 per cent. In the current year, Polestar has handed over 32,300 electric cars to customers. In 2023, the brand delivered 41,800 vehicles after three quarters, meaning Polestar is down 22.7 per cent compared to last year.
That is particularly striking because Polestar has expanded its model range. The sales figures from Q3 2023 are still exclusively attributable to the Polestar 2. However, the Geely brand now also builds the Polestar 4 and Polestar 3 in series production. As Polestar currently manufactures mainly in China, the increased import duties will apply to EU imports in future, which is likely to make the situation in Europe more difficult. Only the Polestar 3 is also manufactured in the US.
Polestar is in a state of upheaval anyway: founding CEO Thomas Ingenlath had to leave, and former Opel boss Michael Lohscheller took over as CEO in Gothenburg on 1 October. In addition, Head of Design Max Mussoni, who was considered Ingenlath’s confidant, has left the company. A new CFO, former Stellantis manager Jean-Francois Mady, has also been appointed – two important positions have now been filled by external managers who do not come from the Volvo or Geely cosmos. Volvo significantly reduced its stake in Polestar at the beginning of the year, and since then, Geely has been the most important shareholder.
In addition, Polestar has already initiated changes to its sales model. According to Lohscheller, this is already bearing fruit. “A key to our future success will be the development of our commercial capabilities: going from showing to actively selling cars. Adopting a more active sales model is already supporting our ambitions, as the first markets to implement it are showing solid order intake,” the manager said.
Given the development in sales figures, Lohscheller announced a strategic review in his first public statement since taking over on 1 October “to set out a clear path for Polestar’s development.” The results of this review will be presented on 16 January 2025 at the presentation of “select Q3 financial and operational highlights.2
Polestar already announced an impact of the current situation on the ongoing business: The company expects turnover in 2024 to be similar to that of 2023 – when Polestar had a turnover of 2.38 billion euros. “The company reaffirms its target of achieving cash flow break-even towards the end of 2025 – at lower volume than previously targeted,” the statement reads.
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