Polestar - ‘Significant Doubt’ over Future

Checkmate3023 on 16/09/2025 - 11:07

The chief executive of struggling car maker Polestar says it will continue operating despite significant challenges.

Polestar lost more than $US1 billion ($1.5bn) in the second quarter of the year and published a warning to investors that the company’s current performance may “cast significant doubt about Polestar’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

The brand, owned by Chinese giant Geely, makes most of its cars in China, the world’s largest market for electric cars.

But Polestar has effectively stopped selling cars in China.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/motoring-news/po…

Feels like this was 'inevitable' and is the begining of a greater EV car consolidation that is probably healthy for the industry?

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    Not suprised Polestar struggling
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    Im suprised Polestar is struggling
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    • Cluster on 17/09/2025 - 10:30
      +4

      EVs were extremely expensive to build. Selling a $50k economy car like the Renault Zoe was an impossible task in Australia, so manufacturers went for the $80k+ market where people would be willing to pay a premium.

      Then the Chinese makers rolled in and truly disrupted the market. We'll see $25k EVs in Australia when the BYD Seagull finally arrives.

    • klaw81 on 17/09/2025 - 10:42
      +1

      Anyone kinda wish there was a basic/budget car brand

      That's precisely what the current contingent of low-end Chinese EVs are intended to be. The BYD Dolphin is a fairly basic, simple and highly reliable vehicle without bells and whistles, but has everything you need - for $30k driveaway. The incoming Seagull will be even cheaper.

      You may argue that's still not very cheap, but there is a minimum cost of building a viable product that's compliant with all the relevant legislation. Adjusting for inflation, and bearing in mind the long warranty that's fairly standard these days, that's about as cheap as cars have ever been at retail.

      Pretty much everything else, i couldnt care less about.

      That's a sentiment I hear a lot, but it's important to note that a lot of what people consider to be "fancy features" are either mandatory due to regulations, or they're so cheap that adding it really doesn't increase the price.

      For example, there are quite a number of safety features that are mandatory on all new cars regardless of price. Autonomous emergency braking means that all new cars need to have forward facing radar and/or camera(s). Which means adding active cruise control (maintaining a fixed distance from the car ahead) is merely a matter of some extra software. Fancy? Sure, but it's actually very cheap because the expensive radar was already going to be fitted.

      Another good example is a reversing camera, which has been mandatory for quite some time now. That means that the car must also have a decent-sized display the driver can see. So making that display a touchscreen that can also control your music costs almost nothing extra - especially if you use similar software and hardware that goes into all of your other (more expensive) models and take advantage of economies of scale.

      0-100 in 10-12 seconds, no worries.

      Performance is a feature that typically comes standard with EVs. Electric motors inherently have lots of torque from zero revs, so it's very easy to make a cheap car that also has excellent driving characteristics. Making the car less performant doesn't actually reduce the cost, so why not have a reasonable amount of grunt?

    • nosey on 17/09/2025 - 12:57
      +1

      Yeah one of those $5-10k AUD cars in China that are tiny and have a range of 80-100km. Perfect for daily driver but would prob be 0star ANCAP.

  • mjdau on 17/09/2025 - 11:24
    +2

    Next up: Nissan, who haven't made a profit in years and continue to burn through cash. They tried organising a rescue package/JV with Honda but it fell through. They have nothing to compete with in a rapidly changing market, and no hope of developing something.

    • TightAl on 17/09/2025 - 11:45

      Typical japanese company mentality

  • Cluster on 17/09/2025 - 12:36

    Time for Volvo/Geely to pull the plug on Polestar. Discharge the debt. It will be negative for current owners, but a positive for Volvo/Geely in the long term.

  • MessyG on 17/09/2025 - 18:32

    Not surprised. Loved the concept but when I got in a Polestar 2 I felt like I was in a lowkey prison.

  • niknikniknik on 17/09/2025 - 20:50

    Interesting. Many Chinese EV triallers on OzB seem to still be convinced that these brands will survive in Australia. Looks like globally this theory is stressed, let alone feasibility in the tiny market of Australia - even with backing from Geely.

  • mavis30551 on 17/09/2025 - 20:57

    Does this mean they wont be serviceable?
    If theyre still able to be serviced id buy one hella cheap as a tesla alternative.

    Parts might be an issue in a crash tho

  • BartholemewH on 17/09/2025 - 21:52

    Even those that liked Volvo and knew that Polestar meant sporty Volvo, wouldn't consider the name appropriate for the launch of an entire brand. I reckon you'd be lucky to get 1 in 25 people making the association. Polestar as a name was not flattering in the first place, might as well have been Pornstar.

    • Checkmate3023 on 17/09/2025 - 22:42

      What made no sense is Volvo is a fairly Premium Brand

      It isnt like Toyota and Lexus or VW and Audi

      I mean Volvos are not cheap

      • MessyG on 18/09/2025 - 17:34

        They're boxy but good.

        • illusion99 on 19/09/2025 - 09:00

          What was the movie that was from again? I remember seeing it once a long time ago. Don’t remember anything about the movie except that line!

  • p1 ama on 17/09/2025 - 23:40
    +1

    Polestar was just trying to appeal to a market that was too niche, with a product that was already technologically behind when it launched, with pricing that's too high, and options packages that are too complex.

    I was actually interested in buying a Polestar 2 a while back, but after checking it out, and learning more about the car - the more I saw, the less I liked.

    Some of the things which I found less than ideal about a Polestar 2:

    1. Options were just too complicated - Pilot pack, Climate pack, Plus pack, Pro pack, then you have Single motor, Long range Single motor, Long range Dual motor, and then you have Performance pack. It's almost like you have to pay for every little thing. Every other competitor has a simple to understand product stack (e.g. Model 3, Model 3 LR, Model 3 Performance, or Seal Dynamic, Seal Premium, Seal Performance). I always got the feel that Polestar were trying to nickel-and-dime me.

    2. Isn't clear what it wants to be - Polestar 2 is too small to be an SUV, but it sits too high to be a sports sedan. It seems like Polestar were trying to make a car that could appeal to both the "school pickup" SUV buyer, and the enthusiast buyer, but really ended up appealing to neither. Driving the Polestar 2 felt like driving a Model Y, but only having the size of a Model 3 (or even less, practically)

    3. Technology is from 2018 - it feels pretty dated, the interior, entertainment, displays, everything feels like it's from last generation compared to the much more modern and sleek designs of the newer cars. FWIW, I also felt that it was trying too hard to both do the touchscreen, but make it also feel similar to buttons, and ended up achieving neither well

    I'd be sad to see Polestar go, because I really don't like the direction cars have moved in. Growing up, watching Fast and Furious (particularly Tokyo Drift), I had lots of posters of "enthusiast" cars up on my wall - I always particularly liked the STi, and wished that I could own one of these cars in the future. Unfortunately, SUVs are all the rage now, and there's a disappointing lack of options for affordable "rough but fast" performance-focused cars that are fun to drive. I always believed that Polestar might be the one to deliver given their heritage, but all of the Polestar 2, 3, and 4 were just boring cars that never stood out, nor really deserved to succeed. It's all a shame, really.

  • Your Friend on 18/09/2025 - 11:01

    way too expensive for what they offered, glad the free market is doing it's job

  • TimApple on 18/09/2025 - 15:40

    Good riddance. It’s a terrible brand with overpriced cars without competitive features.

  • FlyingMiffy on 18/09/2025 - 16:00

    The polestar 3 and 4 are amazing cars. The 4 was under the FBT and i would have gotten it if i didnt need an extra seat. The 3s pricing strategy though didnt make much sense in Aus. 150K was never going to get them the volume to be sustainable.

  • Dack Smith on 18/09/2025 - 17:18
    -3

    Such a pity.

    Polestar makes better EVs than Tesla, Toyota etc. - cheaper and better quality as well.

    I guess Trump’s anti China rhetoric wins again with wide support from all people…..

  • drfuzzy on 19/09/2025 - 01:09

    Exterior looks futuristic
    Interior cheap and nasty

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