Polestar announced that its car sales increased in the first half of 2022 by almost 125% to 21,200, compared to 9,510 a year ago.
That's a positive outcome, however, if we combine the result with 13,600 units in the first quarter of this year, it turns out that in Q2, the volume was 7,600, so almost half of the sales volume of Q1.
The reason behind that is the COVID-19 lockdown in China, which significantly affected the company's only production site and forced it to lower the target for 2022 from 65,000 to 50,000 electric cars.
According to Polestar, the company "is now pushing on with the introduction of a second shift in the factory in order to recover some of the production lost earlier in the year, clearing the path for future growth." We guess that the production and sales in Q3 might reach a new record level.
Polestar notes also strong demand as global order take rose to 50,000 since the start of 2022, up more than 350% year-on-year. It would basically mean that most/all Polestar 2 are sold out through the end of this year.
Besides retail sales, Polestar reports also booking the first portion of Hertz orders. Hertz intends to deploy a total of 65,000 Polestar electric cars over a five-year period.
Polestar CEO, Thomas Ingenlath said:
“It is great to see that the number of enthusiastic Polestar 2 customers is growing so quickly. 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.”
During the first half of the year, Polestar has expanded its global presence from 19 markets to 25 markets and from 103 retail locations to 125. An additional 30 or so retail locations will be opened in the second half of the year. The number of test drives increased by over 210% during the period.
In October, the company intends to launch its new all-electric model, the Polestar 3 SUV, which will be available for order on the day of the premiere.
Polestar lineup:
- Polestar 1 - low-volume, flagship PHEV
- Polestar 2 - current BEV, based on Volvo's CMA platform
- Polestar 3 - SUV
(to be launched in October 2022) - Polestar 4 - SUV
(expected in 2023) - Polestar 5 - "fastback sedan" (like the P2)
(expected in 2024)
