Polestar has postponed its third-quarter results, which were due on Thursday, saying it needs more time to complete its quarter-end closing process, and has not set a new date.
The Geely-controlled Swedish EV maker said late on Tuesday that it “expects to announce in due course” when it will report select results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2026, originally planned for November 5.
Polestar did not say which part of the closing process needed more time. The delay comes two months after its half-year report warned of “material uncertainty” over its funding plan and as loan covenants agreed with lenders tighten through the second half.
It is not the first time Polestar has missed its own reporting schedule.
In 2024, it postponed its full-year 2023 results twice, first to complete its first year of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and then over accounting misstatements in its 2021 and 2022 financial statements.
It failed to file its 2023 annual report on Form 20-F on time and acknowledged a Nasdaq deficiency notice on May 17, 2024, under the rule requiring timely periodic filings.
In January 2025, it disclosed balance sheet errors in its 2022 and 2023 financial statements related to tooling, and it later pushed its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results back to April.
What the Half-Year Showed
Polestar’s last report, published on September 3, showed a net loss of $842.4 million for the first half, 29.4% narrower than a year earlier, on revenue that fell 4.4% to $1.36 billion.
Second-quarter revenue fell 8.1% to $727 million, and the quarterly net loss narrowed to $459 million from $1.03 billion.
For the full year 2025, Polestar reported revenue of $3.06 billion, up 50.3% from $2.03 billion, while its net loss widened 15% to $2.36 billion from $2.05 billion.
The improvement came almost entirely from the absence of an impairment, a review of the filing showed. The first half of 2025 carried $723.5 million of impairment expense.
On the company’s preferred measures, results worsened. Adjusted EBITDA deteriorated to a loss of $521.4 million from $302.3 million, and adjusted gross margin swung to negative 8.5% from positive 1.4%.
Free cash flow was negative $1.06 billion, and cash fell to $887.6 million at June 30 from $1.16 billion at the end of 2025.
Operating activities used $850 million and investing activities $211 million in the half, so cash dropped by $272 million even though $700 million of new equity came in.
The interim report said there was “material uncertainty related to the execution of management’s liquidity and funding plan” that “casts significant doubt upon Polestar’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The Balance Sheet
Polestar had total assets of $3.52 billion and total liabilities of $8.25 billion at June 30, leaving shareholders’ equity at negative $4.73 billion. Its accumulated deficit stood at $10.11 billion.
Current liabilities exceeded current assets by $4.70 billion.
Borrowings totaled $5.90 billion, of which $4.96 billion, or 84%, was due within 12 months. Cash covered 17.9% of that.
The company’s $950 million club loan, which must be refinanced, falls due in early 2027. Polestar said in September that it “continues to have a constructive dialogue” with the lenders.
Covenants Under Pressure
The club loan lenders agreed on March 31 to loosen 2026 covenants to match Polestar’s updated business plan.
The minimum annual revenue requirement for 2026 was cut to $3.30 billion from $8.67 billion. With $1.36 billion booked in the first half, Polestar needs $1.94 billion in the second half to clear it, 42.6% more than it generated in the first six months.
The debt-to-asset limit for the second quarter was raised to 1.50 from 0.85. Polestar reported 1.47.
The limits for the third and fourth quarters were reset to 1.40 and 1.30, both tighter than the second-quarter outcome. The loan also carries a minimum quarterly cash requirement of €400 million ($450 million) and a cap on quarterly financial indebtedness of $5.5 billion.
A separate Chinese loan facility required 30,000 retail sales in the first half, failing which the lender could demand repayment of 25% of the balance every month. Polestar reported 30,423, a margin of 423 vehicles.
Polestar said it was not in default on any of its covenants at June 30. It has not disclosed its third-quarter covenant position.
Third-Quarter Sales
Polestar already reported third-quarter retail sales of an estimated 14,371 cars, up about 1% from a year earlier, its best third quarter. But excluding the US, where it is selling down its last stock, sales fell 8% to 12,211.
“We delivered our best third quarter despite increasingly challenging market conditions,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Lohscheller said on October 8.
Third-quarter volume was 16.9% below the 17,296 cars Polestar sold in the second quarter. In September, the company cut its 2026 guidance to low-to-mid single-digit volume growth from low double-digit growth.
The low double-digit outlook was itself a retreat. In January 2025, Polestar set out a plan targeting compound annual retail volume growth of 30% to 35% for 2025 to 2027.
The US Exit
Polestar was told at the end of June that the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security would not authorize it to sell 2027 model-year vehicles under the Connected Vehicle Rule. It is selling down existing inventory and will keep servicing US cars.
Lohscheller has ruled out an appeal.
The company estimated that US operations added about $211 million to its first-half operating loss, including about $130 million of adjustments arising from the decision, and warned that further negative adjustments should be expected.
Polestar has since cut Canadian prices by up to C$15,000 and ended Polestar 2 production in China ahead of a successor due in 2027.
Its next model after that, the Polestar 7 compact SUV, is to be built at Volvo Cars’ plant in Kosice, Slovakia, under a memorandum of understanding the two companies announced in July 2025.
Shareholder Support
Polestar has relied heavily on its shareholders. Volvo Cars converted about $339 million of its shareholder loan into equity this year, lifting its stake to about 19.9%, and extended the maturity of the remaining roughly $660 million to December 2031.
Geely Sweden converted $300 million into equity on June 30. A separate $300 million Geely facility matures on June 30, 2027.
Polestar also raised $700 million from external investors in February and March at $19.34 per American depositary share. Entities controlled by its ultimate controlling shareholder wrote put options allowing those investors to sell the shares back at a pre-determined price, support Polestar valued at $453.5 million.
The February round brought in $200 million each from Feathertop Funding, a vehicle consolidated to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong). The March round added $300 million from Crédit Agricole CIB, Vida Finance, Innovator and Proximastar Holdings.
Polestar said each put option, written by a Geely Sweden Holdings subsidiary, “provides the purchasers with an exit path, if needed, in three years with certain returns.”
Geely has since extended another line. On September 3, the day of the half-year results, Polestar signed a $400 million term loan with Geely Sweden Automotive Investment, of which only the first $100 million is committed.
The lender can convert the loan and accrued interest into Polestar shares at the average closing price of its ADSs over the five trading days before conversion. Otherwise, the loan must be repaid 365 days after the first drawing.
Related parties held 60.2% of Polestar’s Class A shares and all of its Class B shares at June 30.
Volvo Cars, which owns about a fifth of Polestar, has troubles of its own. Its shares fell 30% to a record low on October 23 after a third-quarter loss and further job cuts.
