Polestar’s order intake spiked 350 per cent across the first half of 2022 relative to the same period last year. The next challenge is delivering them in a timely fashion.
The now-publicly traded Swedish-Chinese EV startup – Volvo and Geely remain its main shareholders – says it has taken 50,000 Polestar 2 sedan orders since the start of 2022, including the first portion of its major fleet deal with rental company Hertz.
That figure, 50,000 cars, is also the number of vehicles it plans to deliver to customers across the entire year. In other words, its first-half order bank equals its full-year target, potentially bad news for those looking to order…
The company says it plans to add a second shift to its Chinese plant (where Australia gets its vehicles), “in order to recover some of the production lost earlier in the year, clearing the path for future growth”.
Polestar also says it delivered 21,200 finished cars worldwide over the first half of 2022, up from 9510 in the same period last year.
That included 562 cars in Australia, where the Polestar 2 was the third top-selling EV in the market behind the Tesla Model 3 (4653) and Hyundai Kona (570).
Polestar ramped up its global presence during the first six months of 2022 from 19 markets to 25, while the number of retail locations rose from 103 to 125, with approximately 30 more expected to open by the end of 2022.
It says this increased retail presence drove the number of test drives up by over 210 per cent, “a key indication of growing consumer interest in the brand”.
“It is great to see that the number of enthusiastic Polestar 2 customers is growing so quickly,” said Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath.
“I am very confident that the strong momentum we have seen this year in brand awareness and sales figures will accelerate powerfully in the coming years as more ground-breaking cars are revealed.”
Next comes the much-teased Polestar 3 SUV, which will share its bones with the Volvo XC90 successor and launch in October 2022.
The smaller Polestar 4 crossover is set for 2023, and the Polestar 5 four-door GT will arrive in 2024 – bringing the Polestar Precept concept car to life.
Polestar says it wants to produce a truly climate-neutral car by 2030.
“It is an important next step towards our goal of selling 290,000 cars in 2025 – ten times more than we sold in 2021,” concluded Mr Ingenlath.
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