Polestar not afraid of other Geely brands coming to Oz

Ambitious Chinese car-maker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Auto) could soon have four brands that use similar electric vehicle technology fighting for a share of the same premium EV market in Australia.

Two of them are already here in the form of the long-established Volvo and the EV start-up Polestar, which launched in Australia in 2022.

On the way is Lynk & Co, which has confirmed its local arrival by 2025, while the other potential arrival is Zeekr, which local industry rumour is also tipping to come to Australia.

The four of them share core group architectures and powertrains, and differentiate themselves via styling, brand marketing and pricing.

At the moment they compete against each other in the giant Chinese market. But it seems they could end up facing off in Australia too.

It would be a further expansion of China’s domination of Australia’s EV market, via top-selling Shanghai-built Teslas and Chinese brands BYD, MG and GWM Ora with their sub-$40K models.

Volvo is a true global brand that’s been around since 1927 and has been owned by ZGH since 2010. It has declared its intention to be all-electric by 2030.

Polestar was originally a Swedish motor racing team in the 1990s and then became a Volvo subsidiary in 2015. It floated in 2021 and Volvo is its biggest shareholder. It is in 297 markets.

Lynk & Co is a joint-venture between Geely Auto and Volvo, and has expanded to Europe. Its first dedicated EV model is due in 2024.

Zeekr, established in 2021, is a pure EV brand that has only just started its expansion from China.

German customers were offered the chance to place deposits on the big (5.0m-long) Zeekr 001 liftback and the mid-size (4.45m) Zeekr X hatchback this week ahead of 2024 deliveries. The EV brand’s other model is the 009 people-mover.

Complicating all this further, Geely Auto is also keen to head to Australia, although it is likely to be a more working-class offering if it gets here.

Polestar Automotive Australia managing director Samantha Johnson expressed no concerns about friendly fire from internal ZGH competition,

“I would just say consumers want different things and the more electric cars there are in Australia that’s good for the environment,” she told carsales.

“They will all stand for different things. They will all have a different design ethos, different customer base.”

With its sales heading for 3000 in 2023 based on just one model – the Polestar 2 electric fastback – and the Polestar 3 large SUV and Polestar 4 mid-size SUV both on the way in 2024, Johnson has a right to feel bullish.

“We welcome competition. We are on path and we know who we are. If these other Geely brands come in I think that’s great to have more electric vehicles in Australia. It’s more choice for consumers.”

She said there would be no requests back to Geely head office to try and head off Lynk&Co and Zeekr until Polestar is established.

“I think we’ll do OK on our own,” Johnson said. “We’ve done a lot over the last 12 months to provide awareness of who we are.

“We’ve got our own path and those other brands, if they come in, they will have a pathway they go on. That’s separate to us.

“We don’t locally here have input into Geely’s… plans. We are not aware of what they are doing here apart from what’s public.”

As we’ve reported, Polestar is being pitched in Australia as a luxury brand against the likes of BMW and Benz, rather than Tesla.

Encouragingly for Polestar as it faces increased opposition, Johnson said awareness of the Chinese-Swedish brand was growing rapidly in Australia and had surpassed the ‘early adopter’ stage.

“We have got our brand awareness metrics that we look at… and we measure that against all the other premium brands and electric vehicle brands, and we are growing faster than some of the established brands and some of the newer brands coming in as well.

“Our brand awareness is higher than some of them and it is growing at a faster rate.”

“Anyone looking at the premium brands is coming in and looking at Polestar.”

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