Polestar Announces Electric SUV Will Be Made in America
Volvo-owned Polestar has announced that its upcoming “performance SUV” will be manufactured within the United States, starting late in 2022. The model will be assembled alongside other Volvo products at the Swedish company’s facility in South Carolina. It also provides an opportunity for Chinese parent Zhejiang Geely Holdings to make meaningful moves on the North American marketplace and less ammunition for critics to reference the EV-focused Polestar as a foreign brand.
“Polestar 3 will be built in America, for our American customers,” said Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath. “I remember the great response when I first shared Polestar’s vision here in the USA and I am proud that our first SUV will be manufactured in South Carolina. From now on, the USA is no longer an export market but a home market.”
Selecting the Polestar 3 makes sense. While crossover vehicles are now popular around the world, Western markets seem to be the hungriest for them and many manufacturers have decided that demand for electrified hatchbacks is about to peak. However, the brand wants everyone focused on its expanding footprint, specifically regarding how it will soon have production capacity in both the United States and China.
“Production in the USA reduces delivery times as well as the environmental impact associated with shipping vehicles around the world. It will even have a positive impact on the price of Polestar 3,” stated Polestar COO Dennis Nobelius. “All of this makes the brand even more competitive in the critical American sales market.”
The crossover is supposed to be midsize luxury electric with legitimate performance chops and room for five. Rumor has it that it will offer ranges in excess of 300 miles per charge and the kind of styling that targets European models. Assumed rivals include imports like the Audi E-Tron and Jaguar I-Pace.
Volvo Cars will invest $118 million in the South Carolina facility to build the Polestar 3 but there’s some question as to how much volume it’s to expect. EVs remain a niche segment with a market share below 2 percent. However, the model shares its SPA2 platform with the planned next-generation Volvo XC90, which is also supposed to commence U.S. assembly in 2022. Any Polestar 3 production shortfalls will likely be softened by presumably stable XC90 output. The facility also has yet to near its production capacity of 150,000 vehicles annually.
Polestar said it expects production to commence globally in 2022. Details will be issued sometime between then and now.
[Image: Polestar]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Long time reader… first time commentator: AB Volvo was never set up to be your favorite car brand. It was set up to be the financial services arm of many things that consumers buy throughout the world. And it’s mission (if I understand correctly) was to be the benefactor to many Swedish teachers and Swedish public employees. When AB Volvo sold the “Volvo Car Company” to Ford in the late nineties, it did so because it was obligated to do so to satisfy Swedish teachers and Swedish public employees. Now, since the $6+Billion USD transaction way back then, these grandmas and grandpas are doing very well, as they should. Now, did Ford do anything with the P.A.G. to help Volvo Car Company? NO! Ford took the technology they rightfully purchased and put all of it in their own cars… that were branded as FORDS. It’s not unlike Apple purchasing “Beats” headphones and branding Beats technology as their own. In fact, BMW did the same thing with Rover, but that is an entirely different essay. In 2007, Ford (Under the direction of Allen Mulally, and prior to the “Financial Collapse” that turned into the “automotive crisis of 2008-2009) decided against “government bailouts” and instead sold off all of their auto company holdings under the “ford first or ford 1 plan” (can’t remember what he actually called it). He did this to use the equity in the brands Ford owned as the money he could use to keep Ford afloat. That decision by Allen Mulally paved the way for Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd from BinJiang District, Hangshou China to buy the Volvo Car Company from the Ford Motor Company and now “the world’s safest car is owned by the Chinese”. But that isn’t entirely a bad thing. I have been doing business all around the globe for 2 decades, and some of my time has been spent with Chinese manufacturers (not automotive grant you) and I can assure you this: The Chinese people (not their government) are entirely good people. They do the same crap we do… change diapers, bring kids to school, worry about the next generation… provide for their families the best they can. But they are not extremely creative. So, they only (it’s China after all) do what they are told. So if a Swedish engineer and a Ford executive land in China and “teach” them how to build cars the way both of them want cars made, the cars will be made exactly to their specifications. So I guess in that context that wouldn’t make a Polestar all that bad now would it? But we are leaving out the point of all the raw inputs for the car(s) came from so please read this: I recently purchased a second hand Ford Focus. I wanted a VW Jetta, but I can’t bring myself to pay money for a Mexican made vehicle (ford maverick, ford mustang ev, ah hem a hem) for many of the same reasons people don’t want Chinese cars that aren’t cheap and the very reason I typed this for you all to read. My Focus is a base model, which in the states I believe is called the S. It was “made” in Wayne Michigan with no cruise control, foam steering wheel, no center console… etc. Bla Bla Bla. So I went to the internet and found that I can acquire parts from junk yards to solve these problems. And as I did so, I found that almost every part I picked from this “American Made” car were all made in Mexico, India, China and Vietnam. So…The automotive industry is a global industry, and nothing we buy to “support America” is actually entirely made in America. Back off of Polestar. The money may be going to China, but last time I checked all the money from the Italian made Jeeps is now going to the Netherlands. Pick and Choose!
$#!+box