Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Polestar, the electric vehicle maker backed by China’s Geely Holding Group, quietly removed on Thursday its entry-level Polestar 2 model from its U.S. website — on the same day the recently announced 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars and parts become effective.
The change occurred Thursday without public announcement. While the Polestar 2 page has since been reinstated in the site’s navigation, the model is no longer available for new configurations or orders. Customers can only browse certified pre-owned vehicles or buy units available through local retailers, according to an official statement shared with Electrek.
“Polestar is a three-car company and Polestar 2 is available for customers now,” the company told Electrek in a statement. “There are a select number of Polestar 2s in stock at retailers that can be found on Polestar.com, but Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 will be the priority in the North American market.”
The Polestar 2, the brand’s first fully electric vehicle, entered production in China’s Zhejiang province in 2020. To mitigate tariff exposure in the U.S. and Europe, the company has shifted production strategy last year and announced production of the Polestar 3 SUV began in South Carolina last November, with U.S. deliveries starting shortly after.
The Polestar 4 is scheduled to launch in the U.S. this quarter and will be produced in South Korea. Polestar also plans to manufacture the upcoming Polestar 7 in Europe.
The company had flagged the impact of tariffs on its business last year. In July, Polestar said that tariffs and pricing pressure would require “mitigating measures” to hit its target of breaking even on cash flow for this year.
Polestar’s U.S. sales declined 11% year-over-year in March, with 616 vehicles sold, according to estimates from Motor Intelligence. Sequentially, sales increased 26% from the 490 units recorded in February. The company has yet to release its global deliveries for the first quarter.
The Polestar 3 starts at $67,500, with lease pricing beginning at $599 per month for a 27-month term. A launch edition featuring Pilot and Plus packages and earlier delivery is priced at $78,900.
Polestar delayed its fourth-quarter earnings report to April, saying the results will be released alongside its annual filing for fiscal 2024. Earlier this year, the carmaker carried out another round of layoffs in China, following global job cuts in 2023 that affected about 15% of its workforce, or 450 employees.
In the fourth quarter, Polestar delivered 12,256 vehicles, bringing full-year 2024 sales to 44,851 units — down 15% from 52,796 in the prior year. Still, the company said total order intake rose 37.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter and increased 37.9% for the full year.
