Running a car company is tough, but selling EVs that compete head-to-head against Tesla is another challenging feat.
Despite Tesla's woes, which include CEO Elon Musk's misguided foray into robotaxis and robots and his rising unpopularity with Tesla's core market due to his political undertakings, the EV automaker continues to top sales numbers against rivals, including established automakers like BMW.
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According to a recent report published by Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, Tesla held a 48.2% U.S. market share amongst all auto brands that sell EVs, with its popular Model Y crossover taking up 25.1% of the market in the quarter, and its sibling, the Model 3 sedan in a close second with 16.9% market share.
Compared to Tesla, Geely-owned (GELYF) Polestar (PSNY) is a small blip in the EV radar, making up just 0.7% of the U.S. EV market share in the same quarter. However, its new leader has fresh ideas that might help it gain an edge over Musk's giant.
Polestar
Polestar has a new North Star
In a recent statement, Polestar revealed that it is planning to pivot away from its traditional sales model in an effort to boost sales of its EVs.
Like Tesla, Polestar primarily relies on a non-traditional direct sales model. Customers can view Polestar EVs at select "showrooms" in malls and retail corridors around the world and continue with their purchase or lease of a car online.
In a statement, Polestar's newly-appointed CEO, Michael Lohscheller, noted that the move is part of a new set of moves that will set up a new strategy for the automaker.
“Together with the management team, we are conducting a review of our strategy and operations to set out a clear path for Polestar’s development,” Lohscheller said.
“A key to our future success will be the development of our commercial capabilities: going from showing to actively selling cars. Adopting a more active sales model is already supporting our ambitions, as the first markets to implement it are showing solid order intake.”
The announcement comes as the automaker revealed that it delivered 11,900 cars worldwide in Q3 2024 and 32,300 units year-to-end September, a 15% drop from last year's numbers. According to Cox Automotive, just 2,378 of the vehicles sold in the third quarter were sold in the United States.
The automaker also expects 2024 revenue to be similar to 2023 and reaffirmed its goal of achieving break-even cash flow by the end of next year, but at lower volumes than previously targeted.
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As a product of Geely and a now-former offshoot of the famous Swedish automaker Volvo, Polestar's new CEO has a great foundation to build upon. Currently, it is slowly rolling out the Polestar 3 SUV from its factory in South Carolina and plans to roll out the rear windowless Polestar 4 once its factory in South Korea becomes operational in 2025.
On August 28, Polestar announced that Lohscheller would replace Thomas Ingenlath, the company's CEO since its establishment, on Oct. 1. Lohscheller brings experience as the head of European former GM mainstay Opel and the head of two other startups: Nikola and Vietnamese EV automaker VinFast.
Before he left the helm, the then-CEO said in an interview with Jalopnik that the Swedish automaker is taking its time with developing its own version of autonomous technology, noting that taking the "Tesla approach" could damage not only Polestar's reputation but also the brand it is closely associated with, Volvo.
“You would do it in the Volvo way,” Ingenlath said. “You would not push it out when you are not 100 percent sure that it is actually safety-enhancing. Others are pushing it out first and taking a certain edge, but of course, that is something we would not do.”
Related: Tesla rival is not playing games with self-driving safety
Polestar's Money Troubles
The sudden change at the helm came as the company was facing a fiscal crisis.
In a previous statement issued on May 17, Polestar acknowledged that, as a consequence of not filing an Annual Report for its 2023 fiscal year and first-quarter 2024 financial reports, it had received a deficiency notice from the NASDAQ. This notice marks the company at risk of not being compliant with exchange rules and in contention of being delisted.
As a result, the stock price fell dramatically, reaching below a dollar per share on May 21. On May 31, it announced in a statement that it expects to file its 2023 annual report and first-quarter 2024 results by the end of June 2024.
On September 17, the company announced that it was in compliance with NASDAQ listing rules.
Polestar, which is listed on the NASDAQ as PSNY, is down 6.21% today, trading at $1.36 per share at the time of writing.
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