Polestar Seeks to Arrest Plunge by Selling Cars Via Dealers Too

Rafaela Lindeberg
2-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Polestar Automotive Holding UK Plc’s new chief executive officer wants to turn around the struggling electric-car maker by selling more vehicles at dealerships, not just online, after a plunge in sales.

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Until recently, although customers could kick the tires and go for test drives at the Swedish manufacturer’s showrooms, they’ve had to turn to the company’s website to buy the cars.

CEO Michael Lohscheller said he’s launched a review of operations and strategy under which Polestar is going “from showing to actively selling cars,” according to a statement Friday.

His comments came as Polestar reported a 15% drop in third-quarter deliveries, to 11,900, joining a range of European manufacturers to report big sales declines in the latest period.

The company said it expects revenue for this year to be similar to 2023. It reaffirmed a goal of achieving break-even cash flow by the end of next year but with lower volumes than it was previously targeting.

Polestar shares fell as much as 12.5% in New York, having already tumbled by more than a third this year through Thursday’s close.

Controlled by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, Polestar has struggled with delays in rolling out new models, while competition has been especially intense in China, a market it targeted for growth. The premium-EV manufacturer has lost most of its market value since spinning out of Volvo Car AB two years ago and listing on Nasdaq.

Polestar announced in August that Lohscheller, a former Opel CEO, would replace former chief Thomas Ingenlath, who struggled to contain losses and fix operational problems. Lohscheller officially started the role earlier this month.

The third quarter brought total deliveries for the first nine months of 2024 to 32,300, a 23% drop from a year earlier. The EV maker had said in August it remained confident that sales of its Polestar 3 and 4 models would boost sales in the second half of the year.

The adoption of a more active sales model is already bearing fruit, Lohscheller said Friday.

Polestar said Friday that it and Li’s Geely were engaged in “constructive dialog” with lenders regarding its loan covenants. The lenders remain supportive, Polestar added.

The company said as recently as August that it had secured as much as $300 million in additional external funding, in the form of a one-year revolving term loan facility.

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