Recently, Polestar announced that in 2021, Polestar will sell 29,000 vehicles worldwide, an increase of 185% year-on-year. At the same time, Polarstar's global business expanded from 10 markets to 19, and its global retail outlets exceeded 100, more than doubling.
As a subsidiary that has been operating independently from Volvo since 2017, Polarstar's global growth is currently very smooth. In China, the current situation of Polar Star is not optimistic.
Although the official Polar Star has not announced domestic sales in 2021, according to the statistics of the China Automobile Association, the cumulative number of Polar Star Chinese mainland in 2020 is only 365, combined with the year-on-year sales growth rate of 471% of the 471% of the sales in China in 2021 released by the Official of Pole Star, it is speculated that in 2021, Polar Star will sell about 2048 vehicles in China, accounting for less than 10% of global sales.
Why Polar Star is not popular in China, Xiaobian tried to analyze the reasons for the dismal domestic sales of Pole Star from the two dimensions of strategy and product.
High and low: Strategic mistakes toward China are constant
The development of its high-performance model series into an independent series has proved to be an effective strategy in the development process of old car companies such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, etc., such as Audi RS, Mercedes-Benz AMG, BMW M, etc., which is not only the performance benchmark in their respective brands, but also the brand awareness.
As a sports team that has been absorbed from the field, Polar Star is naturally also the pearl in the volvo family, and has been entrusted with the heavy responsibility of promoting the high-end strategy of the Volvo brand since the beginning of independence. At the same time, Polar Star is also a brand that implements a sustainable development strategy, and has targeted the new energy market since its inception, which can be described as an early entrant in the high-end new energy market
However, unlike Polestar's advanced strategic concept, the actual deployment of Polestar's strategy in China is slow. As a newly established automobile brand, production capacity is crucial. However, the production and construction speed of PoleStar's Chengdu plant can be described as "turtle speed", and the mass production that was originally planned to be achieved in 2018 did not officially begin until August 2019.
In terms of product update speed, Polestar is also "slow and reasonable". Since its inception in 2017, Polestar has launched only 2 models: the Polestar 1 and polestar 2. Among them, polestar 1 has been listed since September 2018, but as a high-end sports car priced at up to 1.45 million, it is for brand display itself, which is difficult for ordinary consumers to contact. In April 2021, Polestar 2 was just late. The long product window period has made Polestar lose its first-mover advantage in the fiercely competitive new energy market in China.
In terms of product strategy, PoleStar also has the problem of chaotic layout. Polestar2 as a volume model of Polestar, Polestar due to sales pressure to reduce its starting price to 260,000. The price reduction is indeed conducive to increasing sales in the short term for the volume model. However, as a follow-up model of Polestar 1, the huge price gap between the two has caused confusion in the positioning of the Polar Star brand, which is not conducive to the subsequent product launch.
In addition, Polar star also faces product competition from its parent company. As brands that have been deeply rooted in China for many years, Geely and Volvo have also launched their own high-end new energy models, such as The Krypton 001 and Volvo XC90 New Energy. Compared with its old owners, PoleStar's current product competitiveness is weak. Coordinating the product strategy with the parent company is an urgent task for PoleStar to carry out at the moment.
Soil and water are not satisfied: the degree of localization of products is low
At present, all the models of Polar Star are operated by the European design team, and many designs that seem to be widely acclaimed in the European market have become a burden in China.
Or take polestar's volume model Polestar 2 as an example, first of all, the appearance design, due to the shorter development history of the domestic automobile industry than the European automobile industry, the current domestic acceptance of cross-border models is generally low. In the cognition of domestic consumers, the sedan should be the appearance of the sedan, the SUV should be the appearance of the SUV, and the cross-border model belongs to the "four unlikes" in the eyes of many Chinese. At present, domestic cross-border models such as Subaru Auhoo, Volkswagen CC hunting edition, etc., generally have poor sales. As a cross-border model, the Polestar 2 is inevitable to usher in a dismal sales outcome under the current situation of low domestic consumer acceptance.
In terms of body design, domestic consumers are obviously more interested in large-space models, which is obviously not the strength of Polestar 2.
Compared to its sedans, the Polestar 2 has a relatively short body.
Compared to its SUV class, the Polestar 2 is relatively short in height.
In order to please the crossover design at both ends, it has created a situation of small space compared with the pure sedans and SUVs of the same level.
In addition, in the chassis layout, polestar 2 is also a big problem. In the second row of polestar 2, the designers raised the middle platform high in order to increase the battery capacity, which had a very bad impact on the riding experience of the passengers in the middle of the second row. This may not be a big problem in Europe, where the number of vehicles per capita is high, but the domestic volume model is usually the first car in the owner's family, and it is common for the car to be full during the holiday period, and the poor riding experience of the family during the journey is a major point reduction for domestic car owners.
All in all, ignore the actual situation in the Chinese market, copy the experience of the European market, and even if your product is distinctive, consumers will vote with their feet.
Write at the end
In addition to serious problems at the strategic and product levels, PoleStar also has many problems in publicity and promotion and personnel changes. If you want to usher in a turnaround in the future of China's new energy market, only by adjusting your posture and facing up to Chinese consumers can the light of Polar Star continue to shine.