Abstract: The pole star was held high and fell down by reality.
The author | Wang Lei zhang yue
Editor| Zhang Shuo
Polestar new car prices are falling much faster than expected.
On platforms such as Autohome and Idle Fish, polestar 2, which starts at 418,000 yuan, can be bought with only 243,000 yuan. This price is even lower than the market price of used cars of the same model.
Idle fish seller Li Hua (pseudonym) promised phoenix weekly cars, "The Polestar 2 sold now is a brand new first-hand car, which is invoiced after picking up the car and also enjoys the national joint insurance." ”
Polestar, once considered a "strong competitor of Tesla", was held high by Volvo and Geely, and then "fiercely" dropped by reality. Official data shows that Polestar's cumulative sales in the first 11 months of this year in China were only 915 vehicles, which was less than the fraction of Tesla's monthly delivery.
The "dismal" market performance makes Polestar's goal of "10 times sales growth in 4 years" seem out of reach.
01 New cars sold at half price
Polaris was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Sweden. Since its establishment, Polestar has launched two models, polestar 1 and polestar 2. Among them, Polestar 1 is a collector-grade GT coupe with a global limited production of 1500 vehicles, with a domestic price of up to 1.45 million yuan and has been discontinued.
Polestar 2, which is currently sold on the second-hand trading platform, is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market and was listed in April 2019, with a domestic selling price range of 252,800 to 338,000 yuan, and the 2020 first edition is priced at 418,000 yuan.
Phoenix WEEKLY Cars learned that the Polestar 2 sold on Idle Fish is equipped with a driver assistance kit and a luxury kit (but the single-motor version can only choose one or the other). According to the Polar Star App, the total price of the above kit is 60,000 yuan, and the lowest price of the first version of the vehicle on idle fish can reach 243,000 yuan, which is equivalent to half the price directly on the original car price.
In contrast, polestar 2 first-hand sports model of the second-hand car, the external quotation is more than 300,000 yuan.
"From November 30th to today (December 29th), I have sold 8 cars alone." Li Hua revealed.
Li Hua told Phoenix WEEKLY Automobile that most of the polestar 2 new cars it sells on idle fish are stock cars, of which the single-motor version is a vehicle produced from June to October this year, and the first dual-motor version is produced from August to October last year. Because these inventory cars cannot be sold for a long time, they are sold at low prices after being transferred to secondary channels such as auto trading companies in large quantities by 4S stores.
When the consumer has the willingness to buy Polestar 2, he can pay a deposit of 10,000 yuan on the idle fish, and sign an online contract with the above-mentioned auto trading company, and then the seller accompanies the buyer to the auto trading company for car inspection; after the inspection is correct, the buyer can pick up the car on the spot after the balance payment is entered into the company's public account. Of course, foreign buyers can also go through the online inspection process, and the car is inspected by a third party.
Li Hua stressed that the Polestar 2 sold from him can enjoy most of the rights and interests of the new car (in addition to roadside assistance), "after-sales repairs can also be directly to the Volvo 4S store authorized by Polestar." ”
Polestar 2 was once seen by Polestar as a high-quality model to beat the Model 3, but its market performance did not meet expectations.
In October and November last year, the domestic Polestar 2 also launched two recalls. On March 23 this year, due to the safety hazards of the vehicle battery control module, it may lose power during extreme conditions, and Polestar recalled the first version of the 2031 domestic Polestar 2.
In 2020, Polarstar's global sales are only 10,000 vehicles, and according to China's motor vehicle insurance data, the number of Polestar 1 in China in 2020 is only 24, while the number of Polestar 2 is only 342. In the first 11 months of this year, Polestar's insurance coverage in the Chinese market was only 915 vehicles, of which the Polestar 2 sold 909 vehicles, with an average monthly sales of less than 100 vehicles.
02 Benchmark porsche, sales increased 10 times in 4 years
As Volvo's high-end electric brand, despite mediocre sales, Polestar has formulated ambitious expansion plans.
Recently, Polar Star announced that it plans to launch a new model every year in the next three years. In 2022, the Polestar 3 large pure electric SUV based on the Volvo SPA2 platform will be put into production in Both China and the United States; in 2023, Polestar will put into production the Polestar 4 coupe based on geely's electric vehicle platform SEA, which is aimed at a wider target market; polestar 5, which is positioned as a high-performance, high-quality sports sedan, is expected to be launched in 2024.
"Polestar wants to be a competitor to Porsche in terms of design, performance and innovation." Gregor Hembrough, Polar star's regional head of the United States, said in an interview that the future of Polestar will be very different from the present. The three new cars are also benchmarked against Porsche's Cayenne, Macan and Panamera.
According to the plan, Polestar expects to double the number of global retail networks to 100 by the end of 2021 and expand to 30 markets around the world by 2023.
By focusing on new models, parts and sales, Polestar hopes to improve its dismal sales as soon as possible.
With the help of the three new cars, Polarstar hopes to increase global sales to 290,000 units in 2025. Polestar previously expected global sales of 29,000 units this year, which means that Polestar will increase sales by 10 times in four years.
In the Chinese market, Polestar has sold fewer than 1,000 units this year. In the European market, although Polar Star has a good reputation and is even considered to be "one of the most stable electric vehicles in the high-end segment", the cumulative sales in the first 9 months have just exceeded 10,000.
In other words, it is still unknown whether Polar star sales can reach 29,000 units this year.
In the absence of the market opening, Polestar also rumored plans to list on the NASDAQ. In September, Polestar announced plans to merge with Gores Guggenheim, a U.S.-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), with a combined valuation of about $20 billion, a deal expected to close in the first half of next year.
However, as for when the IPO will be held, Polestar has not yet given clear information.
For Polestar, the next more critical battle is whether the three new cars can enter the mainstream electric vehicle market.
Polar Star's shareholder Volvo is actively carrying out electrification transformation, another shareholder Geely Holdings will also impact the high-end focus to its pure electric brand Extreme Kr, at the same time, the global electric vehicle market competition is also becoming increasingly fierce, leaving little time for PoleStar to continue to explore the market.