Polestar Q2 2026 sales slip amid U.S. market ban

Polestar reported second-quarter retail income of 17,296 cars connected Thursday, a 4% diminution from 18,026 vehicles successful the aforesaid play past year, arsenic the Swedish electrical conveyance shaper faces a prohibition from the U.S. marketplace starting with the 2027 exemplary year.

For the archetypal fractional of 2026, Polestar's retail income totaled 30,423 cars, up 0.4% from 30,289 successful the archetypal fractional of 2025, the institution said. Excluding a subset of income the institution tracks separately, the half-year fig roseate 3.1% to 28,562 vehicles, portion second-quarter income connected that ground fell 3.9% to 16,175 cars.

CEO Michael Lohscheller said successful a connection that the company's retail web present stands astatine 235 sites, a 39% summation compared to past year. "The archetypal lawsuit deliveries of Polestar 5 are acceptable to commencement and accumulation of the Polestar 4 SUV has started, with archetypal deliveries expected during the 4th quarter," helium said.

The U.S. marketplace exit stems from the Commerce Department's Connected Vehicle Rule, which restricts vehicles with Chinese bundle oregon hardware from American roads. Authorization to proceed U.S. income was granted to Volvo Cars, a sister brand, astir a period earlier Polestar — majority-owned by China's Geely Holding — had its ain petition denied, Reuters reported. The bundle prohibition takes effect with the 2027 exemplary year, portion a hardware prohibition follows successful 2030.

In the U.S., existing banal of the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 volition stay disposable for purchase, the institution said, and customers volition clasp entree to its work network; income of utilized vehicles volition besides spell on.

The institution announced its U.S. exit successful precocious June, noting astatine the clip that 94% of its first-quarter retail income came from extracurricular the U.S. and that it was redirecting commercialized efforts toward Europe. Polestar banal fell much than 13% connected the time of that announcement.

The income figures get against a backdrop of mounting fiscal pressure. As disclosed successful May, Polestar posted a first-quarter nett nonaccomplishment of $383 cardinal — much than treble its $166 cardinal nonaccomplishment successful the aforesaid play a twelvemonth earlier — arsenic U.S. and European Union tariffs combined with pricing unit drove its gross borderline to antagonistic 3.2%, down from affirmative 10.3% a twelvemonth earlier. Faced with tariff headwinds, Polestar's strategy has shifted toward updating its existent lineup alternatively than introducing caller models from scratch, Reuters reported.