In the late 2010s, it seemed like a dozen new electric car startups were popping out of the woodwork. Rivian and Lucid have essentially come out of nowhere and made names for themselves. Other companies like Fisker and Nikola haven’t fostered an audience. And then there’s you. Polestar. Backed by Volvo, equipped with the resources needed to be successful, and brought up by executives with passion for their craft. Now, why isn’t Polestar a household name?
I’d like to start by saying this article will be riddled with criticism. For all this criticism, though, there are plenty of nice things to be said for your company. Polestar has been my obsession for years, and that would only be possible if your products and ideologies were amazing to me. That being said, there is still a large swath of room to improve.
Consumer Relations
There’s a lot to talk about in this very general category so I’ll break it in half for the sake of conciseness.
- Polestar.com
- In-person, public presence
Your website has a lot of great tools and design choices that I should give you credit for. Tools like “Include taxes and fees” in the price calculator and “Explore the car” on individual cars’ pages are incredibly helpful. The layout, font choice, and color palette also fit perfectly with the brand and look great (and continue to get better as the days go by). But then there are the more odd choices. For example, on any page relating to Polestar 2, including available cars and the configurator, there is no mention of any issue relating to the availability of those cars. Particularly an issue because there are no new Polestar 2s being sold in the United States. Not mentioning a problem is a strikingly simple way to develop a bad relationship with customers as they puzzle over the fact that they couldn’t buy their favorite car.
Polestar’s lack of public presence further degrades their already poor brand recognition (at least in the United States). While Rivian is sponsoring events like SXSW and allowing reviewers to meet their executives as well as review their cars, Polestar is being incredibly shy about coming out for events aside from occasional visits to car shows. The issue with that method in my eyes is that it doesn’t expose a non-car enthusiast audience to a ready-to-buy car. The most recent of your events in the US had you revealing the Polestar 6 BST concept. This practice exposes your audience to a concept special edition of a car that is a concept in and of itself. The issue with this is not that it doesn’t express the Polestar ideology, but rather that it doesn’t offer a product that can be readily sold to a consumer, which only hurts Polestar’s profits at the end of the day.
A solution to this problem could come in the form as a Polestar cameo in a movie, akin to Tony Stark and his Audis. Another could be to rekindle the connection between you and Hertz, allowing for more brand recognition and exposure through multiple new models, instead of just 1st generation Polestar 2s.
Marketing
Polestar has done some excellent things in the marketing department recently. Your new commercial has been running in many different spaces including socials, and their online presence is only growing. Even still, there is plenty of room for improvement.
I don’t want to get into the minutia too much, so I’ll keep this as general as possible. Your marketing of yourself as being this sleek, minimalist, and grayscale company doesn’t help much in gaining a wide audience that is interested in your brand. Now, this isn’t to say that you should ditch the design ethos that has been the backbone of the company since the beginning, but more to say that the brand and, therefore, products, should be a tiny bit less polarizing (at least until you gain a wide enough audience). I’ve seen a bit of this change occur in recent ads, with a Wes Anderson-esque feel and a wider spectrum of colors, which is exactly what I want more of. Still a very Polestar-feeling ad, but a touch less polarizing.
Investor/Market Relations
There is just one major issue I have with the current relationship between you and your NASDAQ-listed stock. Earnings. The way that earnings have been shared by Polestar since 2022 is, put frankly, abysmal. Quarterly and annual earnings are constantly delayed, and it’s gotten so bad that an entity is suing Polestar over issues related to earnings. This should be a very simple fix, but I’ve yet to see Polestar learn their lesson in this respect. Releasing earnings on time and–most importantly–correct is a critical and unfortunately absent part of Polestar Automotive. I am truly hopeful that this can be solved easily, but as of the publish date of this article, Q4 2024 earnings have yet to be released.
Wrapping Up
I’m sure I sound overly harsh and critical, and for that I’m sorry, but these are real issues I have found at the core of Polestar and I know that if you address them, the likelihood of the company being a success would increase at least a tiny bit. To reiterate: I love your products. Everything about them. But me and many other people (particularly in the US) can’t overlook some issues at the core of your company. When all is said and done, this critique is simply because I care about the success of this company because Polestar truly deserves it.