Running a car company is difficult, but selling electric vehicles that compete head-to-head with Tesla is another challenging feat.
Despite Tesla's problems, which include CEO Elon Musk's misguided foray into robotaxis and robots and his growing unpopularity in Tesla's core market due to his political commitments, the electric vehicle automaker continues to top the numbers. of sales against rivals, including established automakers like BMW.
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According to a recent report Published by Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, Tesla had a 48.2% market share in the US among all auto brands selling electric vehicles, with its popular Model Y crossover taking 25.1% of the market in the quarter, and its sibling, the Model 3 sedan, in a close second place with a 16.9% market share.
Compared to Geely-owned Tesla (LIFE) Pole Star (PSNY) is a small blip on the EV radar, accounting for just 0.7% of US EV market share in the same quarter. However, its new leader has new ideas that could help him gain an advantage over the Musk giant.
Pole Star
Polestar has a new North Star
In a recent statement, Polestar revealed that it plans to move away from its traditional sales model in an effort to boost sales of its electric vehicles.
Like Tesla, Polestar relies primarily on a non-traditional direct sales model. Customers can view Polestar electric vehicles in select “showrooms” in shopping malls and retail corridors around the world and proceed to purchase or lease a car online.
In a statement, Polestar's newly appointed CEO Michael Lohscheller said the move is part of a new set of measures that will establish a new strategy for the automaker.
“Together with the management team, we are conducting a review of our strategy and operations to establish a clear path for the development of Polestar,” said Lohscheller.
“The key to our future success will be the development of our commercial capabilities: moving from displaying cars to actively selling. The adoption of a more active sales model already supports our ambitions, as the first markets to implement it are showing strong order intake.”
The announcement comes as the automaker revealed that it delivered 11,900 cars worldwide in the third quarter of 2024 and 32,300 units through the end of September, a 15% drop from last year's figures. According to Cox Automotive, only 2,378 of the vehicles sold in the third quarter were sold in the United States.
The automaker also expects 2024 revenue to be similar to 2023 and reaffirmed its goal of achieving balanced cash flow by the end of next year, but at lower volumes than previously forecast.
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As a product of Geely and now a former offshoot of famed Swedish automaker Volvo, Polestar's new CEO has a great foundation to build on. It is currently slowly launching the Polestar 3 SUV from its factory in South Carolina and plans to launch the Polestar 4 without rear windows once its factory in South Korea comes online in 2025.
On August 28, Polestar announced that Lohscheller would replace Thomas Ingenlath, the company's CEO since its inception, on October 1. Lohscheller brings experience as a director of Opel, GM's former European pillar, and as a director of two other startups: Nikola and the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker. VinFast.
Before leaving the helm, the then-CEO said in an interview with Jalopnik that the Swedish automaker is taking its time to develop its own version of autonomous technology, noting that adopting the “Tesla approach” could damage not only the reputation of Polestar but also the brand with which it is closely associated, Volvo.
“You'd do it the Volvo way,” Ingenlath said. “You wouldn't remove it if you're not 100 percent sure it actually improves security. Others are pushing it first and taking a bit of a lead, but of course that's something we wouldn't do.”
Related: Tesla's rival doesn't play around with self-driving safety
Polestar's financial problems
The sudden change of command came as the company faced a fiscal crisis.
in a previous statement issued on May 17Polestar acknowledged that, as a result of its failure to file an Annual Report for its fiscal year 2023 and its first quarter 2024 financial reports, it had received a deficiency notice from NASDAQ. This notice indicates the company is at risk of not complying with exchange rules and is in dispute for being excluded from the list.
As a result, the stock price fell dramatically, reaching less than a dollar per share on May 21. On May 31, he announced in a statement which expects to present its 2023 annual report and first quarter 2024 results at the end of June 2024.
On September 17, the company announced that it was in compliance with NASDAQ listing standards.
Polestar, which trades on the NASDAQ as PSNY, is down 6.21% today, trading at $1.36 per share at the time of writing.
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