Polestar Problems
November 13, 2025
Jay RameyThe EV maker faces increasing financial pressures even as it expands its lineup, but its next model will land in an oversaturated segment.
A growing lineup is usually a good thing for an automaker, especially a young one that only produces EVs. But not necessarily in Polestar’s case.
With the belated arrival of the Polestar 4 stateside this fall the EV-maker has boosted its lineup to three models while avoiding a direct challenging the Tesla Model Y. But it has still faced significant headwinds that have thwarted its progress against rivals in several key regions, including Europe, which still accounts for 75% of deliveries.
This week the EV maker posted revenues of $2.1 billion for the first nine months of the year, compared to $1.4 billion a year prior. But it also saw its quarterly losses grow by 13% to $365 million, compared to $323 million in the same period in 2024. And that’s despite selling $123 million in carbon credits on the side so far this year.
Polestar executives did not hide the seriousness of the situation this week, as the EV maker’s stock took another tumble.
“The result of Q3 has been clearly disappointing for us. First, we are continuing suffering pricing pressure on our vehicle in addition to having a higher cost of production due to the duties,” Polestar CFO Jean-Francois Mady said on a call with reporters and analysts.
Polestar has been battling these headwinds the old-fashioned way: With personnel cuts slated to reach 20% through the end of the year, reductions in fixed costs, and a search for cuts in materials costs.
What’s worse, Polestar is now fighting a NASDAQ delisting by way of a reverse stock split.
At its core, Polestar is now overseeing an ever-growing lineup, with hardly anything to show for it while facing increasing pressure from competitors and from geopolitical factors including this summer’s tariff showdown with China.
Polestar sold 44,482 cars globally in the first nine months of the year, compared to 32,595 by this time last year, though this number is now split among three distinct model lines.
But the US is far from the most important region out of the 28 countries where it has a presence, accounting for just 8% of Polestar’s sales.
More variety is on the way, with the Polestar 5 four-door GT set to arrive in 2026. But it will be entering a cutthroat segment that has been catered to by Porsche, Audi, Tesla, and Lucid, and has still lost momentum in the past few years.
The Polestar 5 is expected to be pricey, with an MSRP expected to top the $100,000 mark by some margin. But just how many EV buyers have the appetite for such price tags in 2026 remains to be seen, with the Polestar 5 facing the very real prospect of becoming the brand’s lowest-volume model.
The sleek four-door promises a 112-kWh battery, 800-volt architecture, and up to 884 hp — all numbers that would have been impressive if it weren’t for the same cast of competitors from Porsche, Audi, Tesla, and Lucid.
Polestar’s deliveries might well grow by this time in 2026, but might come at a high price for the automaker itself.
The EV maker’s other offerings, including the Polestar 2 sedan and the more recent Polestar 3 SUV, also haven’t made big-enough dents in their respective segments in the US or elsewhere, despite some favorable reviews and plenty of tech inside.
A few larger problems loom ahead, including the US crackdown on software (and just about everything else) created in China — a factor that has already forced Polestar to make some changes to its production footprint to stay afloat stateside.
Polestar still faces the challenge of differentiating itself from Volvo, now that the Swedish brand is adding more EVs to its lineup. The two sibling brands have largely avoided overlapping models for now, but as Volvo’s lineup continues to evolve Polestar might face a harder time standing out.
There are no easy solutions to Polestar’s set of challenges, both short- and longer-term ones, but if its financial picture continues to worsen the usual cost-cutting measures might not be enough to right the ship.
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