Polestar’s boss has firmly ruled out adding combustion models to its line-up, insisting that the EV-only brand is “not in a declining industry”.
The Swedish brand, owned by Chinese giant Geely, was spun out of Volvo with the limited-run Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid but has since made only electric cars.
With the pace of EV uptake slowing and legislators in the US scrapping electrification incentives, many of its rivals have scaled back their electrification plans and reinvested in hybrid technology. And while Polestar is growing dramatically, it has continued to post heavy losses.
Being part of the Geely group would give Polestar access to plug-in and range-extender hybrid technology, but CEO Michael Lohscheller has firmly ruled out ICE models as a way of boosting sales – instead focusing on growing the brand’s coverage of EV market segments with a raft of new models.
Speaking to select media, including Autocar, he said: “We believe in science. Climate change is real, and that’s why we continue to focus on it.”
Lohscheller noted that Polestar’s young customers (its average buyer age is 45, well below industry standards) “absolutely believe” in climate change, adding: “If we said ‘hey, we now do ICE engines in our car’, they would go ‘you can’t do that’ – so we’re not even thinking about it.
“We are doing the right things, and we are absolutely believe in that, and we are backed up by science. One of the main reasons why people come to us is that we’re a unique company.”
Lohscheller insisted that Polestar’s EV-only stance presents “a good opportunity” for the firm, saying: “I get asked in meetings ‘will you do a hybrid?’ and the answer is ‘no, we will not’. How great is that? We will not have any emissions.
“We’re working on a super-exciting product portfolio that requires investment and resources. If you do hybrids on top of that, you just go bigger, bigger, bigger – and the world needs to be simplified.
“Simply, the mobility of the future has to be without emissions, and electrification is the best solution for that. That’s what we believe, and that’s why we continue like this.
“Legacy manufacturers have a business to run, but we don’t have that – and I run Polestar.
“Five years ago, everybody said ‘this is going to happen’. Now everybody says ‘oh, it will never happen’. Both sides are wrong. Of course the transformation will happen. Our customers will not decide for older technology: they will go into the technology of the future. It’s a normal reaction that some people now try to stop it or want to compromise it or postpone [electrification], but they will not be successful.
“For us, it’s a great opportunity to say ‘hey, we accelerate; we are different’. We don’t want to be normal. That’s the best differentiation we can get.”
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