Polestar to move to dealers Down Under

Polestar is dumping its direct-to-consumer sales model. Instead, the Sino-Swedish electric car brand will build an Australian dealership footprint.

Statements from the brand indicate the change will come in time to facilitate the launch its new Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 electric SUVs in mid to late 2024.

Polestar launched Down Under with the aim of selling directly to the public a la Tesla. The plan saw the company open brand centres and Polestar handles servicing largely through relationships with fellow Geely Auto group brand, Volvo.

Polestar calls its experience centres ‘Spaces’. Currently there is one each in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Now, a combination of poor retail sales penetration and an expanding model portfolio has seen a change of heart. Instead, the company will partner with established bricks-and-mortar dealers to expand the brand’s footprint in Australia.

carsales has confirmed the change via independent sources including dealers negotiating with Polestar. That said, the brand would not confirm the move but responded with carefully worded replies when questioned this week by carsales.

“Polestar is in the initial stages of an operational review as the business prepares for the introduction of Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 later this year,” it stated.

“This includes evaluating our footprint in Australia and in other markets to ensure our brand is accessible to customers – both from a retail and aftersales perspective – and can meet the demand of two all-new SUV models.”

Indeed, we understand terms have been agreed between the EV marque and an established prestige brand dealer group with a strong footprint in NSW and Queensland.

That same third-party organisation is also [separately] discussing the distribution of other Geely group brands with the Chinese car-maker.

It’s unclear at this stage whether that dealership group will partner with Polestar in other key markets or whether Polestar will recruit other groups to bolster its Victorian presence and build out locations in other states. Our money’s on the latter.

Polestar would not confirm the arrangements, instead stating: “It is too early to speculate on exactly what our operational model will look like in the future.

“We want to ensure that we achieve a model that benefits both our customers and our partners. One of the key drivers is increasing the number of customer touch points and retail locations.”

Polestar did confirm it would retain its brand experience centres, as well as existing servicing arrangements with Volvo dealers.

“Our close collaboration with Volvo on aftersales continues, so there is no change for Polestar customers servicing vehicles at Polestar Service Points,” Polestar’s Australian spokesperson told carsales.

Better sales results, retention of Polestar 2 buyers, a more viable trade-in channel and broader approved used structure are also said to be key considerations in Polestar’s local expansion.

To date, Polestar has only sold the Polestar 2 fastback sedan in the Australian market.

In 2023, a total of just shy of 2500 Polestar 2s were registered. Polestar confirmed around 20 per cent of those sales went to rental car companies.

To April this year, 264 Polestar 2s have been registered – 61 per cent down on the same period in 2023 – but Polestar recently exited the FCAI’s VFACTS sales reporting regime, clouding the true volume. It is currently offering up to a $10,000 discount on Polestar 2 models.

In the face of the sales model change, Polestar has reiterated its intention to retain a company-owned importer structure Down Under.

“Polestar is committed to the Australian market and sees huge potential with the introduction of its first two SUVs later this year,” said Polestar.

“There is plenty to celebrate in Australia… There are certainly no plans to move to a distributor model in Australia.”

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