Is This the Year Polestar Finally Breaks Through?

A little more than three years ago, Swedish EV startup Polestar took a big swing at making an impression on the American public. They did so with a Super Bowl ad that included some pointed shots at competitors Tesla and Volkswagen. While Polestar’s EVs have gotten high marks, other automotive startups like Rivian have gotten a lot more attention. But a new announcement suggests that could change.

On Friday, Polestar announced it obtained $450 million worth of funding, in addition to a renewal of another trade finance facility of €480 million (or around $497.5 million at the current exchange rate). It’s a vote of financial confidence in the company at a time when some highly-touted EV startups are exiting the race.

As Peter Johnson reports at Electrek, Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller has been saying the right things — or, at least, what one would expect a CEO with confidence in the company’s long-term strategy to say. That includes, per Electrek’s reporting, a comment made by Lohscheller last month that this year would “be the strongest in Polestar’s history.” When Lohscheller was named CEO in August of 2024, Polestar chairman Winfried Vahland spoke of the company entering “its next chapter” and touted his existing experience in the automotive space, including time at Vinfast, Nikola and Opel.

“Polestar has already established itself as one of the most desirable and innovative brands in the electric vehicle space, and I look forward to working with the talented team to build on this strong foundation and accelerate our development,” Lohscheller said at the time.

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The newly unveiled Polestar 4 has lost the plot

This financial boost isn’t the only encouraging news coming from Polestar recently. The Polestar 4 was recently named Car of the Year and Design Car of the Year in South Korea, and Polestar announced plans to expand to the French market later this year. We’ll see before too long if these big investments pay off.