Polestar confirmed for Australia

Volvo sister brand Polestar has announced it will this year expand into five new Asia Pacific markets including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.

At the same time, the Swedish premium electric performance car brand confirmed the Polestar 2, a mid-size five-door fastback rival for the Tesla Model 3, will be launched in 18 markets across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific by end of 2021.

“The brand is gathering real momentum, and it is great to be expanding with Polestar 2 beyond our initial global markets in China, North America and Europe,” said Polestar’s global CEO Thomas Ingenlath.

Volvo Car Australia’s current director of business control, financial services and digital transformation, Samantha Johnson will become the managing director of Polestar Australia.

Polestar has officially stated that preparations for the brand’s launch are at differing stages in each market and that “specific dates and details for each market will be published locally to include model specification and product pricing”.

“Specific roll-out timing is at an advanced planning stage and the recruitment of key individuals has begun,” said Polestar’s new head of the China and Asia Pacific regions, Nathan Forshaw.

In October 2020, Volvo Car Australia told carsales the first Polestar model to arrive Down Under would be the Polestar 2 in early 2022.

This timeline was confirmed by Polestar sources today.

"We expect to open order books and commence first [Australian Polestar] deliveries in the first quarter of 2022," spokesperson Brent Ellis told carsales.

"Towards the end of 2021, customers will be able to express their interest to be one of the first in Australia to be able to place an order for Polestar 2."

Described as an electric performance fastback, the Polestar 2 is the company’s first fully electric high-volume model. Its battery-powered all-wheel drive powertrain produces 300kW/660Nm and offers a 470km range.

Polestar is yet to confirm local pricing for the Polestar 2.

It will be followed by the Polestar 3 electric SUV in late 2022 and, around 2023, the production version of Polestar Precept concept, a flagship sedan to rival the Audi e-tron GT and Porsche Taycan.

The fledgling car-maker’s initial Polestar 1 coupe was not produced in right-hand drive. The low-volume performance GT had a carbon-fibre body and a 450kW/1000Nm hybrid powertrain offering an EV range of 124km (WLTP).

Like all Volvo vehicles by 2030, every Polestar model will be purely battery-powered, and therefore closely related to vehicles produced by Volvo and Lynk & Co, a third Geely-owned auto brand that will also be launched in Australia.

All Polestar vehicles will also be sold only online via a direct-to-public sales model. This model will be used Down Under.

Ellis said the brand planned to open Polestar Spaces in Australia but did not provide details on where or when.

"These [Polestar Spaces] are boutique-style retail facilities in downtown shopping areas or malls, where customers can interact with non-commissioned Polestar Specialists -- who are there to educate rather than push sales as you might experience in a traditional car dealership," Ellis explained.

"Test drives will also be done from Polestar Spaces. However, the purchasing journey is the same whether you visit a Polestar Space or not – 100% online and direct," he stated.

Volvo Car Australia managing director Stephen Connor this week confirmed that while Polestar Australia will be completely independent entity, it will share ‘back-end’ functions such as shipping, warehousing, parts, warranty and servicing.

“Polestar is a separate entity from Volvo Car Australia and it won't report into me at all,” he said.

Indeed, Connor said the Polestar models would compete directly with upcoming EVs from Volvo, which will also be sold online in a ‘hybrid’ sales strategy that will retain traditional dealer retail channels.

“Whilst we're the same owners as you go up the tree, they are a completely separate entity and almost classed as a competitor to us. Their Polestar 2 is very similar to our XC40 Recharge, so we have to be very careful in that respect,” said Connor.

“However, we will help them in every way on the commercial terms. They will only be a small team initially -- so therefore, we would provide them services to help them bring the cars into the country and on legislation. We've got a big logistics department, we've got an after-sales department, so again, we will help them with back-end services like servicing, warranty work and parts.

“It’s still to be defined," Connor stated.

Ellis confirmed the benefits of the Volvo relationship for start-up brand.

"One of our biggest advantages of having Volvo Cars as one of our founding parents is that we can leverage the existing Volvo dealer networks... [For example,] Servicing and maintenance of Polestar cars will be done by Volvo dealers.

"The extent to which we leverage the Australian network is still being finalised, but naturally we aim to gather the support of all Volvo Cars dealers. This means our customers have an established, highly skilled and widespread service and aftersales network from day one," he stated.

Ellis also confirmed Polestar would use valet style model for both deliveries and servicing.

"Our ambition is to offer a pick-up and delivery service for maintenance, yes. In general we are trying to make car ownership as seamless and hassle-free as possible," he stated.

Headquartered alongside Volvo in Gothenburg, Polestar was established in 2017 and currently sells the Polestar 1 and, from 2020, the Polestar 2 in 10 global markets across Europe, North America and China.