The rapid development of the new energy vehicle market, in recent years continue to devour the sales share of the traditional fuel vehicle market, whether it is the American brand Tesla, or the domestic car manufacturing new forces Weilai, ideal, Xiaopeng and other car companies, the achievements are rising steadily, and the traditional big factory BYD is also in the limelight.
The new energy vehicle market is a blue ocean, but not all brands can swim in the ocean, and there are also car companies that are submerged by the sea, such as Polar Star Automobile, whose products are not popular, and the fractures are basically not consumed.
With your back to Volvo, why did you lose?
Polar Star Auto is a brand with a very weak market voice, although it has been backed by Volvo and has been in the market for many years, but its popularity is very low. Originally Polar Star Automobile is a high-performance sub-brand of Volvo, the relationship between PoleStar and Volvo was like the current BMW and M department, Mercedes-Benz's AMG department, until 2017 began to operate independently after the transformation of electric vehicles, the price of its PoleStar 1 is as high as 1.45 million yuan, is a model that many people can't reach. However, such a high-end brand is not popular.
It is only recently that Polestar Cars has come into our sight again and again, and it is reported that the world's famous car rental company Hertz Car Rental has signed a procurement contract with Polestar polestar, which will order 65,000 electric vehicles in the next 5 years and start leasing services in North America and Australia at the end of 2022. The model ordered this time is the Polar Star 2 model. In addition, Polestar Automobile also released the Polestar O2 concept car.
In fact, the electric products of Polar Star Automobile have a good performance, in recent years, it has brought two models of Polar Star 1 and Pole Star 2, and the car buyer has experienced them, these two cars have reached the mainstream level in the same level in terms of materials, driving texture, functional convenience, etc., but unfortunately they have not been able to bring optimistic sales results, and the vehicle is slow to sell, for many reasons.
All along, Polar Star has been holding high, only pushing niche models, coupled with poor marketing, so the market awareness is not high, it is difficult to attract consumer attention. Even if Polarstar brings electrification products during the booming development of the mainland new energy vehicle market, there is only one pure electric sports car in the beginning of Polarstar 1, which is priced at nearly 1.5 million yuan, and such positioning is doomed to be unable to go. You know, volvo models with a price of more than 1 million yuan are basically not bought.
It was not until 2019 that Polestar Automobile brought the more affordable Polestar 2, benchmarking Tesla Model 3. Unfortunately, Polar Star 2 does not have strong highlights, especially Volvo itself does not have much influence in the field of fuel vehicles, placed in a new market, the core technology reserve is difficult to compete with Tesla, which specializes in electric vehicles. In the end, Polestar 2 did not contribute much sales, and even if it was sold at 6.1 discount, it was difficult to escape the fate of being marginalized. The fall of Polestar 2 is a direct judgment of the failure of Polestar Automobile in the domestic market.
Another important reason for the failure of Polar Star Automobile is that the Chinese side cannot lead the product design. It is understood that at present, the product design of Polar Star Automobile is handled by the European design team, the Chinese side has no right to speak, and many designs that are widely praised in the European market have become a burden in China. Therefore, Geely started another stove and brought a krypton car, which also means that Geely will not spend too much resources and energy on pole star cars. The end result is obvious, as a latecomer, the extreme krypton car, the development speed is much stronger than the pole star car.
Is there a future for Polestar?
Although the performance in the domestic market is not good, but the products of Polar star automobile in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region (except China) have a certain degree of popularity, the data shows that in 2021, the global sales of Polestar automobile increased by 185% year-on-year, to achieve the global sales target of 29,000 units, of which the Chinese market only contributed about 2,000 units, and more sales came from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region (except China). In the future, it is not ruled out that Polar star automobile will focus more on overseas markets, but the domestic market should not give up.
It should be known that PoleStar 2 is produced by the domestic factory in Chengdu, and the mainland has a more mature new energy vehicle industry chain, PoleStar Automobile can make full use of the domestic new energy vehicle industry resources, through a lower cost to create products, and then sell abroad. Last year, Volvo also increased its stake in Polestar Automobile, increasing its shareholding ratio to 49.5%, and volvo has already occupied the dominant position in Polestar Automobile, and Volvo and Polestar Automobile are more popular in the European market than in China, so it is not surprising that the future development of Polestar Automobile is biased abroad.
At present, it is certain that the speed of Polestar Automobile to push new cars has accelerated significantly, and will bring Polestar 3, Polestar 4, Polestar 5 and other models. One of the fastest to meet consumers is the Polestar 3, scheduled to hit the market this year, a luxury high-performance all-electric SUV that will be produced simultaneously in both China and the United States. The Polestar 4, which will debut in 2023, is a pure electric crossover SUV, but it will be positioned lower than the Polestar 3 and will take porsche pure electric Macan as a competitor.
Perhaps Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 will be more popular overseas, but speculation is that the situation at home will be the same as that of Polestar 2. Judging from their positioning, they are all taking the high-end and performance routes. Looking at the models of the domestic new energy vehicle market, there are very few models that can make consumers pay by performance, and the more typical example is THE BYD model, which brings DM-i and DM-p two sets of super hybrid systems, the former focusing on economy and practicality, the latter is biased towards strong performance, and the models equipped with DM-i super hybrid technology are far more than the models equipped with DM-p super hybrid technology, and now the new cars brought by BYD also use dm-i super hybrid technology.
In fact, the mentality of domestic consumers to buy electric vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles have great similarities, practical needs are stronger than performance, this environment is not conducive to the development of Polestar 3 and Polestar 4, coupled with the low brand awareness of Polar Star Automobile, and other opponents are gradually strong, the future PoleStar Automobile wants to show its glory in the country, it is very difficult, or it is an ideal choice to point the spearhead abroad.
Although the domestic new energy vehicle is a new outlet, there are many entrants, and they do not have strong strength, and they will eventually be eliminated. The Polar Star Automobile, which was born with a golden key, has the system empowerment of Volvo Cars, and the car-making technology is not bad, but unfortunately it has not been able to become a mainstream new energy vehicle brand in China, and the improper business strategy, unclear product positioning, imperfect channels and other factors are important reasons for the failure of PoleStar Automobile.
From the perspective of the future planning of Polar Star Automobile, it is mainly to seize the market by launching more new models and enrich consumer choices, but whether it can attract consumers is another matter. From the perspective of brand strategy and product positioning, PoleStar Automobile seems to have no plans to change the problem in an all-round way. If Polar Star Automobile also wants to embrace the mainland new energy vehicle market, hoping that the results will usher in a turnaround, only by adjusting the posture and deeply understanding the needs of domestic consumers can it have the opportunity to shine, otherwise, it will only lose the Chinese market.