Polestar May Exit China Market, June Sales Reach Only 6 Units

Reports have resurfaced about Polestar potentially withdrawing from the Chinese market. Although insiders from Polestar have repeatedly denied this, the sales figures suggest that the withdrawal rumors are not unfounded. The latest data shows that Polestar sold only 6 vehicles in June this year, sales for April and May are unavailable, and only 1 vehicle was sold in March. The cumulative retail sales for the first half of the year were less than 70 units. For comparison, single-month sales for Jiyue Motors before its drastic collapse ranged from about 1,000 to 3,000 vehicles, highlighting Polestar’s current extremely poor sales performance.

Source: Baidu

In addition to plummeting sales, Polestar’s main sales entity in China, Polestar Technology, began layoffs around the Chinese New Year, and local R&D and supporting development have come to a standstill. Existing car owners are also facing difficulties with after-sales maintenance, with several owners reporting that no one was available to assist at 4S stores and that vehicles were returned without proper inspection. Founded in 2017, Polestar was initially developed and designed by a European team with production in China. Volvo was once its largest backer, investing over 1 billion USD, but since February last year, Volvo has been reducing its stake and has made it clear it will no longer provide funding. In June this year, Geely Holding injected 200 million USD into Polestar, but this is insufficient to cover its huge losses. From 2020 to 2024, Polestar accumulated losses of over 5.1 billion USD, with a net loss of 2 billion USD in 2024 alone. By the end of 2024, Polestar’s total assets stood at 4.054 billion USD, with total liabilities of 7.383 billion USD, resulting in negative net assets of 3.329 billion USD—meaning the company is already insolvent.