Polestar joins Tesla in quitting auto lobby over its campaign against proposed vehicle efficiency standard

Polestar Australia’s managing director, Samantha Johnson, said Polestar would consider returning to the lobby group ‘when the FCAI commits to representing all voices in the automotive industry, fairly’. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Electric car brand Polestar has become the second company to quit Australia’s main auto industry lobby group over frustrations at its campaign against the Albanese government’s plan to import environmentally cleaner cars.

On Friday – a day after Tesla announced it would cease being a member of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) over the group’s opposition to the government’s proposed vehicle efficiency standard – Polestar Australia’s managing director, Samantha Johnson, wrote to FCAI CEO Tony Weber advising him the Volvo-owned brand was also cancelling its membership.