Polestar doubles revenue, remains in the red

The electric car manufacturer Polestar achieved a turnover of 420.8 million euros in the third quarter of 2022. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year (205.7 million euros), Polestar more than doubled its revenue.

In the current year, Polestar was also able to (almost) double its turnover, from 723 million euros in 2021 to 1.43 billion euros. (+98 per cent). The revenue growth (both Q3 and current year) was driven entirely by higher sales of the Polestar 2.

The net loss from July to September decreased slightly to 289.3 million euros (same quarter last year: 292.2 million euros). In Q3, the operating loss also fell (€189 million instead of €292 million in Q3 2021), but in the current year, the operating loss has increased by 64 per cent. Polestar attributes this to the investments in growth and the nearly 360 million euros in one-off costs for the IPO in the summer of last year.

Polestar delivered around 9,215 electric cars in the third quarter. In the first new months of the year, there were about 30,400 vehicles. The manufacturer is sticking to its target of delivering 50,000 electric cars to customers in the full year. In other words, Polestar would have to deliver more than twice as many cars (i.e. currently just the Polestar 2) in the fourth quarter than in Q3.

But the company says this should be possible: “We needed to catch up on production after Covid-19 related setbacks in China and we have,” says Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath. “The majority of Polestar 2 cars set for delivery in Q4 are ready and making their way to our customers in 27 markets around the world, with the fourth quarter set to be our strongest on record yet.”

In the investor update on its financial results, Polestar reiterated its further model strategy: the Polestar 3, unveiled in October as a ‘Luxury Aero SUV’ in the electric vehicle segment, is scheduled for launch next year. Then the company plans to introduce the Polestar 4, a ‘Premium Sport SUV’) in the D segment, priced in the $60,000 to $80,000 range. While the Polestar 3 is said to be the equivalent of a Porsche Cayenne, the Polestar 4 would be a competitor to the Zuffenhausen-based company’s upcoming electric Macan. In 2024, the Polestar 5 is to be unveiled as the ‘Luxury Sport GT 4-Door’, followed in 2026 by the Polestar 6 as the “Luxury 2+2 Roadster” – the model can already be pre-ordered now.

polestar.com (quarterly report as PDF), polestar.com (deliveries)