Polestar Plans to Launch EVs in These Seven Countries

• Polestar will launch sales in seven new markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with plans to enter France, Brazil, Thailand, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland.

• 2024 is a crucial year for the all-EV brand, with launches of the Polestar 3 and 4 set to give the automaker some much-needed variety in its lineup.

• Polestar began as an in-house Volvo tuning and racing arm before being launched as its own EV brand several years ago, though Volvo itself also plans a sharp turn toward electric models.

2024 is a big year for Polestar as the brand will see the launch of not one but two new battery-electric models. The Polestar 3 and 4 will give the brand some much-needed variety, after relying exclusively on sales of its electric sedan for the past couple of years.

It's not a stretch to say that quite a bit is riding on the success of the these two models, one of which will share a platform with the Volvo EX90, at a time when EV demand is showing signs of plateauing.

But the still-young brand is also eyeing rapid expansion. Polestar plans to launch sales in seven new markets in 2025 through local distribution partnerships, including in France, Brazil, Thailand, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland.

"Expanding our retail operations with new and existing partners will enable us to reach more customers," said Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath. "Through these partnerships and expansion, we will capitalize on our strong brand and growing model line-up."

Out of these seven countries, France is perhaps the most significant EV market, and already offers quite a few electric models.

Polestar has also been working to expand its retail presence, having been relying on Polestar Spaces since the launch of its first model. The company-owned stores, seeking to replicate Tesla's recipe for success, have seen new locations open in several regions this year, including in Glasgow, Scotland, and Sheffield, England. The latter of the two will replace a pop-up location that Polestar had opened in a mall, making the store permanent.

Polestar's expansion has not been without other major changes behind the scenes. Earlier this year Volvo and Polestar began the process of a corporate split, with Volvo shedding 62.7% of its stake in Polestar, as Volvo parent company Geely is set to assume more direct control over the latter.

The move was described as giving Polestar more flexibility when it comes to engineering and design, while also opening the brand to more input from Geely. The development was also seen as opening the door to more distinct Polestar vehicles down the line, creating space between Volvo's engineering influence and the EV-only brand that is still not well-enough represented stateside.

In all of 2023 Polestar sold 6,736 vehicles in the US, representing a drop of just over 25% out of a total of about 55,000 globally. That's a small fraction of Tesla sales, to put it mildly, with Polestar still having a lot of work to do in carving out its own unique proposition to American buyers.

The debuts of the Polestar 3 and 4 should boost the brand's sales numbers this year and the next, but they will also require a more pronounced sales presence in the next 18 months.

Production of the Polestar 3 began earlier this year in Chengdu, China, and is expected to start later this year in Ridgeville, South Carolina. So the model will be the first for Polestar to be produced on two continents simultaneously.

Deliveries of the Polestar 4, meanwhile, will begin stateside in the fall, with the model having already gone on sale in Europe and other regions.

It remains to be seen just how much expansion the EV market can take in 2024 and 2025, with a number of signs suggesting a slowdown in electric vehicle sales—a reality perhaps reflected by a significant drop in Polestar delivery numbers in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2023.

A number of automakers have already taken steps to boost their hybrid offerings in the coming years while expecting EV adoption to grow over a much longer timescale than predicted just a few years ago. But as an EV-only brand Polestar doesn't have this option.

Does Polestar have much name recognition at this point, or is it mostly known just among EV enthusiasts? Let us know what you think in the comments below.