Polestar gives up on America as ban forces a stronger European focus
With US accounting for only six per cent of Polestar sales, the company will cut its losses and focus its attention elsewhere
Last month, Polestar confirmed it was being forced to stop selling cars in the United States due to new legislation targeting Chinese manufacturers and the software buried within their cars. But due to the company’s relatively small market share, Polestar will not fight the ruling and instead intends to focus its efforts in Europe, Canada, South Korea and Australia, Auto Express can confirm.
Henry Butt, global head of commercial product, pricing and margin at Polestar, told us: “Last year, the US was less than 10 per cent of our global volume; around 5,000-6,000 cars. Our focus going forward is Europe first, and also Korea where we’re massively growing.
“Acutally, Canada is growing a lot for us as well; they’ve gone the other way from the US. They started down the same route as the US and now they’ve done an about-turn, and are welcoming cars manufactured in China.”
Polestar is the spin-off brand of the quintessentially Swedish firm Volvo, but both are owned by the Chinese conglomerate Geely, which owns Lotus and Smart, too.
The Polestar 2, Polestar 4 and new flagship Polestar 5 are built in China, although the Polestar 3 SUV is made in the US at the Ridgeville plant in South Carolina that also produces the Volvo EX90. A forthcoming, additional Polestar 4 variant, which we’ve spied testing, will be built in South Korea.
“Our ambition is still to grow our global volume,” Butt said. “It will probably grow at a slower rate without the US, but we certainly won’t be going back this year versus last year.”
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security denied the brand approval to sell new cars from model year 2027 onwards in the country under its ‘Connected Vehicle Rule’. This currently restricts the sale of “connected vehicles by connected vehicle manufacturers owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of China or Russia, and vehicles using their covered software”.
The justification for these rules is the protection of national security, because Washington believes companies from these countries may be compelled to share data or allow remote access to connected vehicles in the US.
Curiously, Volvo was granted authorisation from the same government department to continue importing and selling its cars in the US, avoiding the same fate as its sibling. Meanwhile, Ford is in the process of getting a similar exception to the rule in order to continue selling the China-built Lincoln Nautilus.
Lotus is in the crosshairs of the US’s anti-China rules, as part of the Geely family, with its Eletre SUV and Emeya GT being made in China. However, at the time of writing, there’s been no word on whether it will be forced to stop sales, too.
Polestar launched in the US in late 2020, and had built up a network of 30 dealers across the country. While America made up a small percentage of the brand’s global sales, Polestar had still managed to shift several thousands of cars there.
Thankfully for customers who bought them, the company promised to continue to support existing owners. A spokesperson for Polestar confirmed “they’ll be looked after” and that “because they're the same models we offer [in Europe], they'll still get all the over-the-air-updates and all that kind of stuff as well.”
The company will utilise the Volvo dealer network for servicing, while retaining key members of staff to ensure aftersales support is unaffected. It’s understood that the brand is also able to sell existing stock of the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 in the US for the time being.
The only possible silver lining from this news is that Polestar will now be focusing more of its efforts on Europe, which is by far the biggest market for the brand, accounting for roughly 80 per cent of its retail sales.
In announcing the company’s exit from the US, Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller said: “The automotive industry is entering a new phase, based on regional dynamics. Our strategy reflects that, with Europe being our largest growth engine and our plan to manufacture Polestar 7 in Europe.
“Our record sales in 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 show that we are making strong progress, with several new market launches taking place in Europe this year. In addition, we will continue to invest in markets where we have opportunities to continue to grow, like Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Canada.”
The next model set to arrive later this year is an estate-cum-SUV version of the Polestar 4 coupé. But if you prefer the more rakish original, right now you can save £5,000 on one thanks to the Auto Express Buy A Car service.
Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.
