Written by Cláudio Afonso and Collins Eshiet
On the same day it reported its second-quarter earnings, Polestar hosted a conference call where Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Per Ansgar took the lead in answering analysts’ questions, as the brand transitions to a new CEO starting October 1.
When questioned about the demand for both new models, the Polestar 3 and 4, Ansgar said the latest will be delivered only later this year while the brand’s first fully electric model, the Polestar 2, will take “a smaller portion of our sales going forward”.
“We will basically not launch the Polestar 4 until very late this year,” the CFO said adding the company is “not really starting to take orders” for the model.
Regarding the Polestar 3 model has “a large order book” with customers from Europe and the U.S placing pre-orders on the coming vehicle.
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“On Polestar 3, we have a large order book, both in Europe and the U.S., but we are expecting that to grow more during the balance of the year as we are now starting to ramp up the test drives,” Ansgar stated.
The CFO predicts that the demand will keep growing through the year along with the popularity of the Polestar 3.
“We will see volume growth gradually through the year. So, you should expect third quarter to be better than before, and then you should expect fourth quarter to be even higher up. And especially you will see, as we have guided in our outlook, that fourth quarter will be strong from a volume perspective,” the executive noted.
The company’s shares surged 17% early Thursday following the results as it revealed the reduction of its inventory by approximately 30% in addition to a lower than expected quarterly operating loss.
Polestar said, while reporting the earnings, it has secured up to $300 million in external funding, “in the form of a one-year revolving term loan facility” adding it intends to use the money for “general corporate purposes”.
Winfried Vahland, Polestar’s incoming Chairman, said earlier this week Geely “remains deeply committed to Polestar’s success, and with Michael at the helm, supported by a dynamic leadership team, we are well-positioned for continued innovation and growth.”
Written by Cláudio Afonso and Collins Eshiet
