[Oenonee]

To be fair it's not like Volvo isn't working with Geely themselves. I would say Polestar has had a good birth, best of both worlds. If they can keep Chinese tech and Swedish design, that's a win no?

 

[Icesingh]

In EV's, who did (meet their sales goals)?

Ferrari and Lamborghini…expected sales 0, actual sales 0.

 

[Dude]

It is more than distancing. Volvo and Polestar will be like Volvo and Zeekr.
Many I know in Sweden think of Polestar as Volvo and is a big reason for them selling good here. They need that connection. Who are they now? Another Chinese EV company?

You do realize that a Chinese company already owns (controlling interest) Volvo, don't you? Manufacturing wise, Volvo has 3 plants in China, more than any other country. Then there's this latest EV news:

2025 Volvo EX30: Next year’s most important EV comes from China?

The Chinese-built subcompact SUV starts well below $40,000, in a world of $50K-plus EVs; that’s turning a lot of heads

www.greencarreports.com

Per a number of business articles on this topic, Volvo is pulling out of financially backing Polestar, but the two will still cooperate on R&D.

"Volvo said it is considering restructuring its ownership in Polestar, and could hand over control of its stake to China's Geely (GELYF), Volvo's parent. "This may result in Geely Sweden Holdings becoming a significant new shareholder," in Polestar."

 

[Dude]

IMO, the far bigger issue for fledgling EV brands, is the slowdown in EV sales.

Tesla, and a couple of Chinese brands are in the best position to survive a world-wide EV slowdown...and that includes Volvo. In the US, with the exception of Tesla, all the other EV makers are fighting over the scrapes. A combined Volvo and Polestar EV sales, in 2023, only captured a little over 2% of the total EV sales in the US. Peanuts. Even the next biggest contenders to Tesla, Hyundai/Kia and Ford, only have about 8% of the EV market.

And with Tesla slashing prices, and other EV manufacturers having to follow suite, to remain cost competitive,....profit margins will be down to the bone.

Independently, both Volvo and Polestar could suffer a slow death....much like Saab did in the 90's. Volvo has the infrastructure and name recognition, but see Polestar as having the more innovative and exciting new products for the next few years.

If Volvo has announced there will be a parting of the ways, then so be it....and would rather be partnered with someone that has a deeper pocket to weather the storm.

 

[18309]

Why is Polestar so bad at this stuff? Now this will be the story for the week instead of the PS4 launch. Polestar just can't get a break but some of the damage is self-inflicted. Where is the public announcement assuring owners and potential buyers that Polestar is sticking around and they have a plan to ensure their cars can be serviced?

I'll be honest, I'm a Polestar fanboy but this does trouble me and makes me question my decision to buy a PS4.

Polestar allows others to control their narrative. Say what you want about Elon Musk, the one thing he did right was not allowing anyone else to control Tesla's narrative.

 

[Zuofu]

It is more than distancing. Volvo and Polestar will be like Volvo and Zeekr.
Many I know in Sweden think of Polestar as Volvo and is a big reason for them selling good here. They need that connection. Who are they now? Another Chinese EV company?

Probably this was always what it was; Polestar was a backdoor way to get Chinese EV platforms to sell in the west and now that it's normalized they are moving onto the next phase. Maybe they thought Volvo's dealership network was a critical part, but I'm not sure that's exactly panned out as they imagined.

And that's not even necessarily a bad thing, "Another Chinese EV company" may very well be more competent these days than something like Vinfast or even GM (given their Ultium fiascos).

 

[LeStar]

To be fair it's not like Volvo isn't working with Geely themselves. I would say Polestar has had a good birth, best of both worlds. If they can keep Chinese tech and Swedish design, that's a win no?

You mean like Zeekr?

 

[Dude]

Polestar allows others to control their narrative. Say what you want about Elon Musk, the one thing he did right was not allowing anyone else to control Tesla's narrative.

If Tesla had just started selling EV's around the same time as Polestar, and/ or other new, startup brands, Tesla/Musk would have faced the same issues. New ventures are always going to be beholden to those who financially control the strings. Tesla almost went out of business - twice. Look up the history. They are in the position they are, today, for two major reasons - (1) No EV competition for nearly a decade, and (2) The sale of carbon credits....to the tune of many billions of dollars from the Federal Government. Tesla was heavily subsidized by the US Government many years. Polestar got about 2 years of federal subsidies in the US until 2022.

 

[Amphicar770]

Minimally, this will not bode well for service and parts availability. Polestar simply does not have the independent dealer network to stand on its own.

 

[18309]

If Tesla had just started selling EV's around the same time as Polestar, and/ or other new, startup brands, Tesla/Musk would have faced the same issues. New ventures are always going to be beholden to those who financially control the strings. Tesla almost went out of business - twice. Look up the history. They are in the position they are, today, for two major reasons - (1) No EV competition for nearly a decade, and (2) The sale of carbon credits....to the tune of many billions of dollars from the Federal Government. Tesla was heavily subsidized by the US Government many years. Polestar got about 2 years of federal subsidies in the US until 2022.

I'm not saying Telsa didn't struggle and almost collapsed multiple times. I'm saying Elon didn't allow anyone to control Tesla's narrative. He didn't allow the new cycles to be dominated by negative press from analysts and critics. Telsa was very proactive in their messaging to counter the negative press and weather the storms while Polestar is the exact opposite.

 

[18309]

Minimally, this will not bode well for service and parts availability. Polestar simply does not have the independent dealer network to stand on its own.

Servicing is their Achilles heel. This announcement doesn't help.

 

[Oenonee]

You mean like Zeekr?

I don't know much about them sadly, not in the UK yet.

Servicing is their Achilles heel. This announcement doesn't help.

If something goes wrong, fair point. But EVs require less servicing. The 4 is three years or 30,000 miles.

I have an Audi Q4 and trust me, a dealer network means nothing when it comes to EVs. They know nothing.

 

[18309]

If something goes wrong, fair point. But EVs require less servicing. The 4 is three years or 30,000 miles.

I have an Audi Q4 and trust me, a dealer network means nothing when it comes to EVs. They know nothing.

Having a servicing network, even if they are less than optimal, goes a long way to improve consumer confidence over having no servicing options. It's not like you can take your EV to your local independent garage and hope they can fix it.

 

[nbvolks]

Why is Polestar so bad at this stuff? Now this will be the story for the week instead of the PS4 launch.

Actually, they're quite good at it. They're burying the news, by mixing the two. It's the same thing they did when they knew that news of the P3 delay and missed sales targets were going to come out. So they push forward the reveal of the P4 at the Shanghai autoshow, which muddies the news and search engine algorithms.

Musk pulls the same thing, frequently. Bad financial or production news? Then he'll saw or do something outlandish, so that the news gets completely mixed.

 

[nbvolks]

Like I originally said, this is not quite the ordeal people are making it out to be. Geely is the puppet master here, so shuffling stocks between Geely and Volvo (which Geely owns) has no real meaning other than to drive up market valuation for Volvo, because.....retail and automated traders are dumb.

Geely owns approximately 80% of Volvo shares.

Polestar is basically a 50/50 venture between Geely and Volvo(which is also really Geely).

So Volvo (really Geely) divesting stocks of Polestar to Geely, is just a shell game.


And the parts and maintenance aspect will remain, because again....it's all really essentially Geely.

 

[18309]

Actually, they're quite good at it. They're burying the news, by mixing the two. It's the same thing they did when they knew that news of the P3 delay and missed sales targets were going to come out. So they push forward the reveal of the P4 at the Shanghai autoshow, which muddies the news and search engine algorithms.

Musk pulls the same thing, frequently. Bad financial or production news? Then he'll saw or do something outlandish, so that the news gets completely mixed.

A Musk move would have been to announce in Shanghai that the PS3 was delayed because Volvo was afraid of the competition by a superior car and forced Polestar to delay the release. A Musk move would be to say today that Volvo was dead weight, Polestar cars are superior to Volvo in every way, and they can't wait to prove it with the PS4 release. I would love for Thomas to embrace his inner Musk/Jobs and be a little more proactive and aggressive like a startup needs.

Instead, there is nothing said and Polestar allows questions about the company's future viability to dominate the news cycle, drive down the stock price, and undermine consumer confidence in the brand.

 

[LuisBos]

Korean EV slide...just like everybody else:

Korea boosts subsidies to rev up falling EV sales - The Korea Times

The Korean government will temporarily offer more subsidies to customers purchasing electric vehicles (EVs), as part of policy incentives to revive...

www.koreatimes.co.kr

EV9 doesn't count imo, as it's too new/barely available. It's also on the more expensive side, relative to their other offerings.

Hyundai and Kia are 'pulling ahead' with strong EV demand despite rival concerns

Despite concerns over a cooling EV market, Hyundai and Kia are “very bullish” as demand for their electric vehicles remains...

electrek.co

Hyundai/Kia is primed to take a lead as they have competitive, price-effective products with lots of room to drop prices (like Tesla).

Makes hawking $60-100k EVs are the ones struggling with too much supply, not enough demand.

I posted too soon:

Kia EV9 sales are heating up in the US

Kia’s new three-row electric SUV is gaining momentum in the US. Over 1,400 Kia EV9 models were handed over in...

electrek.co

 

[18309]

This is wonderful news!

First off, many Volvo dealerships in the US do not, and will not service Polestar's. ...so, for many markets, it simply doesn't matter.

Secondly, and lest we forget, the biggest reliability issue for Polestar was imported from Volvo when Polestar used the same TCAM hardware as Volvo (that also had this issue).

Third, if you look at the new Polestar models slated to come out in the next few years, and with the exception of the P3, what Polestar has in the works looks nothing like Volvo's...which, as far as I am concerned, is a good thing.

Whether Volvo separates from Polestar, or Polestar separating from Volvo, or whether it was a mutual parting of the ways, it was inevitable, and allows Polestar to begin distinguishing it's OWN identity.

The reality is that these cars are going to need service and repairs. Parts wear out. Accidents happen. Vandalism and theft damage occur. Selling a car with no service partners is not a viable business model. No one is going to pay $100K for a disposable car.

Here, the service is handled by Volvo.

Today's announcement puts that into question and causes me a great deal of consumer anxiety. Without a reliable service partner, I'm not sure I could pull the trigger on buying a Polestar.

I sincerely hope Polestar and Volvo (or any auto group really) make a joint announcement affirming their commitment to servicing Polestar cars for the foreseeable future.

 

[18309]

You do realize that a Chinese company already owns (controlling interest) Volvo, don't you? Manufacturing wise, Volvo has 3 plants in China, more than any other country. Then there's this latest EV news:

2025 Volvo EX30: Next year’s most important EV comes from China?

The Chinese-built subcompact SUV starts well below $40,000, in a world of $50K-plus EVs; that’s turning a lot of heads

www.greencarreports.com

Per a number of business articles on this topic, Volvo is pulling out of financially backing Polestar, but the two will still cooperate on R&D.

"Volvo said it is considering restructuring its ownership in Polestar, and could hand over control of its stake to China's Geely (GELYF), Volvo's parent. "This may result in Geely Sweden Holdings becoming a significant new shareholder," in Polestar."

You're talking about reality. LeStar is talking about perception and we all know that perception is the only reality that matters. If people are buying a car because they "think" the manufacturer is a Swedish company then anything that alters that perception can only have a negative impact on sales.

 

[nbvolks]

The reality is that these cars are going to need service and repairs. Parts wear out. Accidents happen. Vandalism and theft damage occur. Selling a car with no service partners is not a viable business model. No one is going to pay $100K for a disposable car.

Here, the service is handled by Volvo.

Today's announcement puts that into question and causes me a great deal of consumer anxiety. Without a reliable service partner, I'm not sure I could pull the trigger on buying a Polestar.

I sincerely hope Polestar and Volvo (or any auto group really) make a joint announcement affirming their commitment to servicing Polestar cars for the foreseeable future.

Geely!....they're both Geely.

If you change your perception from Volvo as some standalone self owned, private entity and just see Polestar and Volvo as both store fronts for Geely Holdings....then you quickly see the entire thing for what it really is.