Polestar has produced the first 5,000 units of its new Polestar 4 SUV in South Korea for shipment to Europe, CEO Michael Lohscheller told Automotive News in an interview published on Monday.
Asked how Polestar would regain momentum after flat sales in Europe this year, he said: “It’s true that Europe is somewhat flat, but the solution is the car we are launching now, the Polestar 4 SUV.”
Lohscheller said the company is “very confident” in the model’s demand.
“We have produced the first 5,000 cars, which are coming to Europe from South Korea,” he said while disclosing that “orders for the car are strong, so we are very confident.”
What 5,000 Units Mean
The 5,000 units equal 34.8% of the estimated 14,371 cars Polestar retailed worldwide in the third quarter, the company’s best third quarter to date.
Measured against third-quarter sales outside the US, a market Polestar is leaving, the batch equals 40.9% of the 12,211 cars it sold.
It also equals 11.2% of the 44,790 cars retailed in the first nine months of 2026, and 8.3% of the record 60,119 cars Polestar sold in 2025.
Lohscheller did not say over what period the 5,000 cars were built, how many have been ordered or how many will reach customers this year.
Lohscheller spoke with Automotive News Europe Managing Editor Douglas A. Bolduc on October 6 at the Ascari Racetrack near Malaga, Spain, where Polestar held a launch event for the SUV, and the interview was published on Monday.
Built in Busan
Polestar launched the SUV on Sept. 2 and said all units are built in Busan, South Korea, where production started in the second quarter of 2026, with first customer deliveries planned for the fourth quarter.
Its half-year report, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission a day later, still listed the SUV as in development at the Busan plant with “start of production Q3 2026.”
The plant is run by Renault Korea, which is 35% owned by Geely, Polestar’s controlling shareholder, according to Polestar’s 2025 annual report.
Renault Korea said in 2023 that the Busan plant has an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, which puts the first 5,000 SUVs at 1.7% of one year’s capacity.
Polestar has not disclosed how much of that capacity is allocated to its vehicles.
The Polestar 4 coupe has been built in Busan since the second half of 2025, for European, US and South Korean customers, alongside production at Geely’s plant in Hangzhou Bay, China, the annual report says.
A Low-Cost Variant
Asked how much Polestar invested to create the variant, Lohscheller said: “That’s confidential, but I can say it is at a very low level.”
Polestar describes itself as having an “asset-light” business model that uses contract manufacturing by Volvo Cars, Geely and Renault Korea, which it says “requires significantly less capital” than traditional automakers need.
The SUV keeps the coupe’s 100-kilowatt-hour battery but adds a conventional rear window, 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) more rear headroom and 530 to 1,665 liters of luggage space.
The rear-motor version makes 272 horsepower and has up to 630 kilometers (391 miles) of WLTP range, while the dual-motor version makes 544 horsepower and reaches 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds.
Prices in Germany start at 57,900 euros for the rear-motor version, 65,900 euros for the dual-motor and 76,300 euros with the Performance pack.
Europe Flat, US Closing
Polestar does not publish quarterly sales for Europe, which accounted for about 80% of its volumes in the first half of 2026 and about 78% in 2025, according to its SEC filings.
Its figures excluding the US support Lohscheller’s “somewhat flat” description for the year, with nine-month sales outside the US down 0.5% to 40,773.
The third quarter was weaker, as sales outside the US fell 7.9% to 12,211 while the US, where Polestar is selling off its remaining stock, rose to 2,160 from 966, keeping global sales up 1.0%.
Polestar said in June that the US Commerce Department had denied it authorization to sell vehicles from model year 2027 under its connected vehicle rule.
Its annual report says Polestar 4s built in Busan are subject to a lower US tariff, while Polestar vehicles imported into the EU from China pay an additional 18.8% duty on top of the standard 10%.
“Tariffs and duties are not helpful and lead to uncertainty. Therefore, our strategy is to regionalize as quickly as we can,” Lohscheller told Automotive News Europe.
Growth and Losses
Lohscheller called the Polestar 4 coupe “our bestseller,” a description Polestar has also used in its own statements, and said the SUV “is the basis for future profitable growth.”
Polestar said in September that a higher share of Polestar 4 sales had helped margins, but its adjusted gross margin was negative 8.5% in the first half, compared with positive 1.4% a year earlier.
It posted a first-half net loss of $842 million on revenue of $1.36 billion and cut its 2026 volume guidance to “low-to-mid single-digit” growth from “low double-digit,” citing the end of the current Polestar 2’s life cycle and the SUV’s fourth-quarter launch.
To match its 2025 total, Polestar would need 15,329 retail sales in the fourth quarter, compared with 15,608 a year earlier.
Its half-year filing says a material uncertainty over its liquidity and funding plan “casts significant doubt” on its ability to continue as a going concern.
Polestar has since signed a $400 million term loan facility with a Geely unit, of which $100 million is committed, after converting about $640 million of shareholder loans into equity in the first half.
Polestar is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results on November 5.
