Not shocking, they have a Volvo network that sells electric cars too
Not sure how the legal aspect would work, but I am surprised that the Chinese automakers are not buying failing brands like Mitsubishi, Maserati or Fiat to enter in the US market basically selling rebadged EVs. Polestar is already owned by Geely so this is even more surprising to me as a missed opportunity. I am guessing the Made in China piece is a major hurdle but when we had a similar issue for the tech hardware that my company sells, there were various cost-effective and legal ways to get around the trade barrier.
They were not really doing good in the US anyway. Either they could merge into Volvo to avoid the separate cost of sales, dealership and service or exit the market. Exiting might have made better sense. I loved Polestar 3 when I test drove. Too bad it will be missed.
Terrific cars. Poor execution and roll out. Using the chinese connectivity thing as a way to make a “graceful” exit, especially since Volvo got its waiver last week. Get ready for a month or 2 of a polestar fire sale.
I was seriously considering a P4 if there was a good lease deal, but came here to warn others to at least go into any future deals with your eyes open: Trump admin bars Polestar from selling its new EVs in the US | TechCrunch
“The decision to effectively ban Polestar from the U.S. market comes just a few months after the Trump administration granted the same authorization to sell vehicles here to Volvo — Polestar’s sibling company, which is also owned by Geely.”
Geez - could this hit Mercedes too??: Mercedes-Benz may be shut out of U.S. market under bill aimed at Chinese automaker ownership
Yes, but I suspect that the US government and MB will find a workaround…
I believe the Polestar ban was due to use of Chinese software, not outright ownership by Chinese companies. The Germans are not good at software, see Volkswagen deal with Rivian. I hope MB does not start subbing out their software development to the Chinese. Then they would have a real problem.
Can polestars be serviced (under warranty) via Volvo service locations?
Can they go back to building the S60 in SC now ?
The irony…Connected Vehicle Rule was finalized and issued under the Biden admin. It was written to take full effect for 2027 models. Hence why this is happening now.
Software is the ban that kicked in for 2027 models. 2030 is next phase, which includes physical hardware from China.
Yes, brands are prohibited from selling vehicles in US under the rule…if they are “owned and controlled by” China or Russia. Volvo got a pass because they were able to prove operations are still in Sweden.
I thought it only had to do with the connectivity - meaning all data going back to China? Makes sense if it’s recording video all of the time but seems like they could prove or switch it goes to Sweden?
That’s a shame, the Polestar 5 was looking really interesting.
I don’t really get it - no they weren’t doing great but they had only given it a few years, and historically one doesn’t establish a successful new car brand in less than 5 years.
I figured China (Geely) would have been pretty willing to pour money in to it for quite some time as a good way to get in to the large American market.
Geely at one point wanted to enter the US with its own brands, and It dosn’t make sense to abandon Polestar if they had any intention of doing that.
not sure what there is to not get. the company wasn’t doing well, had a bad product rollout, lost $7500 in incentive and then got slammed by tariffs. there’s nothing more to see here other than a “graceful” exit.
Anyone want to guess how many TOTAL cars Polestar sold in Q1?
(answer will be in the next post)
Polestar 3 sold 950 TOTAL units in Q1
Polestarr 4 sold 400 TOTAL units in Q1
1350 units in 3 months for an entire brand