On October 13, Polestar closed its last remaining directly-operated store in China, which is located in L+Plaza, Qiantan, Shanghai.
Polestar stated that it is strategically adjusting its business model in China to better align with the diverse and rapidly evolving consumer demands of the Chinese market. "Although our Shanghai store is temporarily closed, Polestar's other operations in China remain unaffected, and the rights and interests of our car owners will not be impacted in any way."
Polestar's official service hotline staff told reporters that the company currently primarily sells cars online. However, a reporter from the International Financial News previously noted that the online car purchase system has been quietly shut down, requiring consumers to reserve a test drive by phone. With the closure of its last directly-operated store, Polestar's sales in the Chinese market appear to have stagnated.
In fact, Polestar still had high expectations for store expansion in 2024, but the current channel status of stores is obviously contrary to previous plans.
By the end of 2023, Polestar will have 55 stores in China. By the end of 2024, this number is planned to double to about 120, and will exceed 180 in 2025, covering major first- and second-tier cities across the country. It is planned to divide stores with different attributes according to different functions.
But starting from 2025, the number of Polestar stores began to decline rapidly. As of July, there was only one store left in Qiantan. Two months later, this last store also failed to hold on.
It is worth noting that at the same time as the stores were closed, Polestar Automotive China's management also experienced a large-scale resignation wave, including many management personnel including Polestar China's general manager Wu Huijing.
The root cause of the rapid store closures is deteriorating sales.
Since entering the Chinese market in 2017, Polestar has struggled to establish a clear positioning, leading to a continued decline in sales. Sales in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 are projected to reach 1,612 units in the first half of the year, respectively, with 2,048, 1,717, and 1,100 units respectively.
This year's sales data has deteriorated again. On the sales list of Autohome, the reporter only found that 5 Polestar 4s were sold in China in August, and there were no sales records for the other models. The data for individual models in September has not yet been released. Combined with previous sales data, Polestar's sales in China in the first 8 months were less than 100 vehicles.
The sluggish sales are partly related to the confusion in brand positioning. Polestar products cover too wide a price range. In 2018, the brand's first model, Polestar 1, was launched on the market. It was positioned as a high-performance plug-in hybrid coupe with a price of 1.45 million yuan and a global limit of 500 units per year, targeting the ultra-luxury field. The Polestar 2, launched two years later, reduced its starting price to 299,800 yuan, turning to the core segment of the mainstream market.
The Polestar 3, released in 2022, will have a starting price of nearly 700,000 yuan, returning it to the ultra-luxury market. The Polestar 4, released in 2023, will drop back to the 300,000 yuan range. Furthermore, the officially announced Polestar 5 and Polestar 6 will rival the Porsche Panamera and 911, respectively, with the Polestar 6 concept car commanding a hefty 1.68 million yuan pre-sale price.
