The Polestar 2 is powered by a 78-kilowatt-hour battery and delivers 408 hp, with an estimated full-charge range of 275 miles. The sedan takes a leap in connectivity with the first use in a production car of Google’s new Android Automotive for its infotainment system.
“The Polestar 2 is a messenger of things to come,” Hembrough said.
Polestar declined to reveal sales targets for the year or say how many advance reservations are on the books. But about half of the 2020 allotment for the U.S. has been spoken for. Early interest in the electric sedan is coming from customers of Tesla and European luxury brands. Polestar anticipates a 60 to 65 percent lease rate.
In addition to launching the brand during shelter-in-place orders, Polestar must bring a franchised retail network to life.
The automaker is shunning the traditional retail model in favor of selling its cars online only. But it is not shunning dealers.
Polestar will have small, low-cost “spaces” in malls and mixed-use urban developments instead of Taj Mahal-style showrooms with expansive service centers. The stores, which will be 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot information centers, will be run by franchised dealers selected from Volvo’s retail network. Polestar vehicles will be serviced at the dealers’ Volvo stores.
The retail network will first appear in four EV-friendly metros — San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; Los Angeles; and New York.
By late 2021, Polestar plans to have stores in 12 U.S. markets.
Price Simms Auto Group was “within days” of securing leases for Polestar stores in San Francisco and San Jose, co-owner Adam Simms said last week. The dealership group, which has nine stores in the Bay Area, ranks No. 95 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with 2019 retail sales of 10,762 new vehicles.
But the San Francisco Bay Area was the first region in the country to lock down via shelter-in-place orders and has been cautious about reopening.
“March is when we really realized the potential impact of coronavirus on our business,” Simms said. “We put everything on freeze immediately because we needed to get clarity on what the marketplace was going to be like.”
Simms is bullish on Polestar, given California’s embrace of EVs and the brand’s digital-first franchise model.
“We think Polestar strikes a balance between the existing dealer network and evolving shopping patterns,” Simms said.
Its digital-first retail approach, once viewed with skepticism by the industry, now seems tailor-made for a post-pandemic world where customers expect a low-touch experience.
