Polestar has put up a billboard in Switzerland telling drivers that oil belongs in salad rather than cars, the latest in a string of advertisements in which the Swedish electric-car maker has targeted combustion engines and rivals.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Lohscheller shared a photo of the mega-poster for the Polestar 4 Coupé on LinkedIn on Wednesday. It reads “Oil is good. For salad.”
“We are impossible to miss,” Lohscheller wrote. “It’s time to start using oil where it belongs. Cars aren’t it.”
“Switching to electric has simply become the better choice. Better products. Better technology. Greater resilience,” he added.
The line echoes an argument Lohscheller has made since fuel prices surged this spring.
“As long as our mobility remains addicted and tied to oil, that resilience will remain weakened and repeatedly tested,” he said in April, describing a shift from “range anxiety” to “pump anxiety.”
Zurich Already Saw the Joke
It is at least the second time this year that a Polestar mega-poster has aimed at Swiss politics.
In April, a poster on the Metropol building by the Fraumünster, directly beside Zurich’s city hall, described the Polestar 5 as “not yet banned in Zurich.” It was a dig at city policies cutting parking spaces and traffic lanes.
The city approved the poster, which ran until the end of April, according to 20 Minuten.
Local politicians split along party lines. Green councillor Jürg Rauser compared advertising for climate-damaging products to alcohol and tobacco ads, which are banned. The FDP and SVP welcomed the provocation.
Christoph Wolnik, a Polestar spokesperson, told 20 Minuten the political angle was intentional. “We are known for unconventional brand messages,” he said.
“Polestar uses current events with humour in its communication,” Nadine Romero, Head of Marketing at Polestar Switzerland, told persönlich.com. The Zurich poster was made by the agency Pam Advertising.
‘Zero Percent Political’
In 2025, Polestar ran Swiss slogans reading “100% electric, 0% political” and “Drive around political discussions in style.”
The target was disappointed Tesla owners, Tages-Anzeiger reported in July 2025. It said a Zurich agency created the campaign and that the idea came from Lohscheller himself.
He had told Business Insider that the mood around Musk and Tesla was an opportunity for Polestar.
The brand also ran a cover advertisement in the weekly Weltwoche positioning itself as a stylish alternative to Tesla, according to persönlich.com.
In Canada, Polestar ran billboards in April 2025 reading “No power trips. More road trips.” They were timed to evening rush hour and paired with online offers for Tesla owners.
The Forsman & Bodenfors campaign coincided with half of Polestar’s Canadian sales over six weeks coming from Tesla owners, the company told Campaign Canada.
‘Choose’ Fake Engine Noise
The Swiss posters now sit alongside a global campaign called “Choose”, which Polestar launched in January.
Polestar’s in-house creative team developed it for 13 markets in four regions, across outdoor, TV, cinema, print and social media, according to Klein Report. In Switzerland it opened with two mega-posters at Zurich Airport.
Its lines are ironic: “choose blending in,” “choose fake engine noise,” “choose plastic interiors” and “choose conquering Mars.”
“I think it is working,” Lohscheller told Newsweek in May. “We are a small player, so obviously we want to fight for our fair share.”
‘Dinosaur Juice Addict?’
In September 2025, Polestar put up posters across Manhattan during Climate Week NYC that likened dependence on combustion engines to a toxic relationship.
The posters asked “Dinosaur juice addict?” and “It’s your dad’s fault?”, and pointed passers-by to a hotline. Callers heard facts about the costs of fossil fuels, according to Creative Review.
“As many traditional car companies are back-tracking on their climate promises, we are doing the opposite,” said Fredrika Klarén, Head of Sustainability at Polestar.
From Space to the Super Bowl
The approach began with a softer tone.
Polestar’s first global brand campaign, in October 2021, featured former astronaut Karen Nyberg and the “overview effect” of seeing Earth from space. Polestar’s creative team made it with Forsman & Bodenfors.
Its first Super Bowl ad, in February 2022, turned blunter. The 30-second “No Compromises” spot for the Polestar 2 flashed white words on black, including “No dieselgate,” “No conquering Mars” and “No greenwashing.” These were aimed at Volkswagen and Musk.
MediaPost reported the spot was made with Forsman & Bodenfors. Polestar has since credited its in-house team, according to Klein Report.
Traffic to Polestar pages on Cars.com rose 580-fold during the game, according to Cars.com.
Ahead of the COP28 climate summit in November 2023, Polestar launched a “Truth Bot” on X that replied to climate misinformation with IPCC and IEA data. TechCrunch later reported that people, not software, were writing the replies.
A teaser for this year’s updated Polestar 3 kept the Super Bowl formula: “No legacy. No hybrids. No fake engine noise. No conquering Mars.”
Taking the Fight to Munich
Polestar has used IAA Mobility in Munich, the German industry’s home show, to make the same case in person.
In 2021 it took a space on Königsplatz, where it unveiled a working prototype of Re:Move, an electric cargo vehicle for last-mile delivery.
In 2023 it showed the Synergy concept, the winner of its design contest, and announced a Hot Wheels collaboration.
In 2025 it chose the show for the world premiere of the Polestar 5 grand tourer, displayed at a pavilion on Ludwigstraße.
“Many premium German car brands are revisiting combustion technologies, but we remain focused on an all-electric future,” said Michael Manske, Head of Communications and Marketing at Polestar. “Bringing our performance GT to their backyard felt like the right statement at the right time.”
Lohscheller used a keynote on the IAA main stage to urge EU policymakers to keep the 2035 end date for new combustion-car sales.
“Weakening it now would send the opposite signal: that Europe can be talked out of its own commitments,” he said.
The night before the show opened, German actor Matthias Schweighöfer, newly named as a Polestar brand ambassador, presented a short film criticising parts of German politics and the car industry for wanting to prolong the combustion engine, according to Firmenauto.
The Numbers Behind the Noise
The advertising runs louder than the sales.
Polestar Switzerland registered 1,073 cars in 2025, up 77.9%, according to Autosprint. The Polestar 4 accounted for 543 of them.
Blick counted 1,088 Polestar 4s sold in Switzerland from the model’s July 2024 launch to the end of August 2026, and described the number as disappointing.
Globally, Polestar posted record first-half retail sales of 30,423 cars in 2026, up 0.4%, as it cut its operating loss by 43%. Second-quarter sales fell 4%, its first quarterly decline since 2024.
Polestar is also preparing to leave the US after an import ruling, and has cut US prices by up to $25,000 to clear stock before the 2027 exit.
