Polestar sold an estimated 326 vehicles in the United States in July, down 39.9% from a year earlier and 8.2% below June, according to Motor Intelligence data — as the brand sells down the inventory that will constitute its final new cars in the American market.
The Geely-owned Sweden-based EV maker is winding down US sales after the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security declined in June to authorize it under the Connected Vehicle Rule, barring new models from the 2027 model year over the company’s Chinese ownership ties.
Polestar has said it will not appeal, will sell its remaining 2026-model stock, and will continue supporting owners through its service network.
The July figure fits a year that was collapsing before the ban arrived.
Motor Intelligence‘s monthly estimates for 2026 run 280 in January, 285 in February, 330 in March, 310 in April, 335 in May, 355 in June and 326 in July.
Throughout July, volumes fell between 33% and 47% year over year, for a seven-month total of 2,221, off 41.9% from the same period of 2025.
The declines stretch back further: US volumes have fallen year over year every month since July 2025, per the Motor Intelligence series.
With its second-quarter disclosure — the first quarterly decline in global retail sales since 2024, down 4.0% — Polestar introduced a metric of retail sales excluding the US, attributing the change directly to the Connected Vehicle Rule decision.
The exclusion softened little: ex-US sales fell 3.9% to 16,175 cars, with the implied US quarter at roughly 1,121, down 7.2%.
Chief executive Michael Lohscheller, in his first direct comments on the ruling, told the Financial Times the decision was “pretty straightforward” and one the company has “to accept,” adding: “The days are over when everything was global.”
The full year 2025 closed at 5,747, itself down more than half from the brand’s 2024 US peak near 13,000.
August Deepens the Clearance
With a January 1, 2027 deadline to clear inventory, the sell-down’s terms are escalating.
Polestar‘s August slate, valid through August 31 with delivery required by month-end, extends July’s headline offer — a $25,000 “Clean Vehicle Incentive” off MSRP for cash buyers of a new 2026 Polestar 4 — and adds two routes that July lacked.
Financing now pairs 0% APR over 60 months through Polestar Financial Services with an $18,000 incentive off MSRP.
And for the first time since the exit was announced, there is an advertised lease: “Lease from $499/mo,” the company says on its website, with a “$19,000 Polestar Clean Vehicle Incentive included” and an additional $1,000 for existing owners under a loyalty bonus.
The clearance began in July at up to $25,000 off, as EV reported, packaged as the “Summer of Clarity Event”; August’s version drops the branding and adds the lease and zero-rate paths.
With roughly 32 US retail locations selling from fixed stock, configuration choice narrows as the pile shrinks — and each further discount round between now and January is likely to be steeper than the last.
The Paradox in South Carolina
The wind-down carries an industrial inversion without precedent. The Polestar 3 is built at Volvo‘s Ridgeville, South Carolina plant — the first US-built Polestar, since August 2024, on the line shared with the Volvo EX90.
Last March, the companies consolidated all global Polestar 3 production there, with roughly half the output originally intended for American buyers.
Volvo, which received its own Connected Vehicle Rule authorization weeks before its sister brand’s denial, is separately adding XC60 production at the underused plant from January.
For the US EV market’s monthly ledger, Polestar‘s line now measures depletion.
At July’s pace, the remaining months of 2026 would add roughly 1,500 more sales before the window closes.
