"Lohscheller isn’t the only new arrival on the executive board announced today: there is also a new chairman, Winfried Vahland who was previously the CEO of Skoda."

Huh. I figured Samuelsson had talked himself out of a job. (Accurate financial reporting? Meh.) But didn't expect Ingenlath to be ousted too.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/swedish-ev-maker-polestar-appoints-michael-lohscheller-ceo-2024-08-28/

He's had several CFO roles which makes perfect sense. But really don't know what to make of his CV - "After four years steering Opel through change and Covid, Lohscheller had a short stint leading Vinfast in Vietnam before jumping ship to Nikola in Phoenix, US. Polestar is therefore the fourth global car maker he’s led as CEO in just four years and shareholders must be hoping this is one role he holds down for longer to make an impact."

I hope Geely hasn't gone rummaging for parts in the bargin bin again. But if the future of P* (and Volvo) is limited to Geely reskins, perhaps it doesn’t matter.

 

"Lohscheller isn’t the only new arrival on the executive board announced today: there is also a new chairman, Winfried Vahland who was previously the CEO of Skoda."

Huh. I figured Samuelsson had talked himself out of a job. (Accurate financial reporting? Meh.) But didn't expect Ingenlath to be ousted too.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/swedish-ev-maker-polestar-appoints-michael-lohscheller-ceo-2024-08-28/

He's had several CFO roles which makes perfect sense. But really don't know what to make of his CV - "After four years steering Opel through change and Covid, Lohscheller had a short stint leading Vinfast in Vietnam before jumping ship to Nikola in Phoenix, US. Polestar is therefore the fourth global car maker he’s led as CEO in just four years and shareholders must be hoping this is one role he holds down for longer to make an impact."

I hope Geely hasn't gone rummaging for parts in the bargin bin again. But if the future of P* (and Volvo) is limited to Geely reskins, perhaps it doesn’t matter.
View attachment 257428

Worth reading his whole CV, 16 years as a Finance Director Jungheinrich AG

CFO Mitsubishi, 3 years

EVP VW, 3 years

CFO VW USA 4 years

CFO Opel 3 years

CEO Opel 3 years

Then Vinfast and Nikola start ups.

This is more of a CEO skill set CV.

(27) Experience | Michael Lohscheller | LinkedIn

With Winfried Vahland (doesn't appear to be on LinkedIn) and ex-Skoda CEO as you say (since 2010) these are two big fish really for Polestar.

Winfried Vahland has been on Volvo's board since 2019 too. Move to Polestar in Jan 2024 as well. Presumably neither role overlapping his CEO role at Polestar? Worth a bit more digging around on his background.

 

IMO, this is exec musical chairs until Polestar is vaporized and absorbed into Geely & Co. Particularly now, with the tariff wars emerging between the West and China, it's even more perilous times for Polestar. Of course, counteracting all of this, PSNY is now just above $1 per share, likely based on speculator interest and not company financials, after being below this water mark for the past 3 months. What's the over/under on Lohscheller lasting until the end of 2024?

 

Geely owns 86% already.
14% by Volvo and Geely owns Volvo.

Polestar is already a division of Geely. It was even before Volvo shifted from 50% to 14% ownership.

Polestar 4 is, seemingly, very closely related to the Zeekr 001 anyway.
5 and 6 are least unique architectures.

As above, slowing EV market in US and EU, Chinese market over supplied with brands and Chinese brands now seen as cool and Western ones not, this is hard time to be trying to see EVs as a non-Chinese brand.

Geely may unintentionally or unthinkingly be undermining Polestar in EU with Zeekr. Brands are too close in positioning I feel.

 

All I know is that I lost my shirt with this stock. Nice EV, but the lack of charging stations and the unsettled economy has buyers holding their cash.

 

Ingenlath is a designer, not a CEO. I'm not into the speculation. I mean, what has changed at Volvo since Rowen and some other changes? Not all that much.

What will be will be. We'll see.

 

For sure, Ingenlath is a CEO! I'm surprised to read such a statement from you. Ingenlath did a good job building up Polestar. Unfortunately, the plan didn't work out as planned due to numerous circumstances like the pandemic (production and development stop), the following logistics crisis, changed customer demands, tariff wars, electronics issues (in the whole industry).

Maybe, Polestar's biggest problem is that people in the west don't buy them because they think it's Chinese, and Chinese buyers don't buy them because they think it's European. It's not clear what this brand is about, despite they put so much effort and money in the branding. And as I stated before, Ingenlath's vision of the brand (concept cars and future models) was a while different story from their products you can actually buy (until before some weeks). Maybe the board of directors knows more than we do, e.g. orders of Polestar 3 and 4 now that they are being produced...

 

Maybe, Polestar's biggest problem is that people in the west don't buy them because they think it's Chinese, and Chinese buyers don't buy them because they think it's European. It's not clear what this brand is about, despite they put so much effort and money in the branding. And as I stated before, Ingenlath's vision of the brand (concept cars and future models) was a while different story from their products you can actually buy (until before some weeks). Maybe the board of directors knows more than we do, e.g. orders of Polestar 3 and 4 now that they are being produced...

Corporate strategy and brand identity were in conflict with Polestar. Polestar probably should have been branded as Volvo's premium electric brand for the future, with a very tight "designed in Sweden" qualifier. Geely wanted to use Polestar to dump Chinese-manufactured cars on the west. "Made in a Volvo factory in China, but something else entirely" just wasn't as compelling a brand identity.

As others have pointed out, Volvo's platform and electrification strategy has been in shambles for a while, and Polestar going down does nothing to help it. It feels like Volvo are just hanging on.

 

A plus for Volvo is that their products don't become stale so fast. That had already been the case with the first XC90 whose sales numbers seemed to increase the older it got. And this is still the case with their current SUVs. I have no clue why that is, but it really helps Volvo to bridge the time until they have new (not just facelifted) cars in a couple of years.

 

Peter Horbury said he never designed Volvos to fit in with latest trends but wanted more timeless designs. That way the product doesn't look old fashioned and outdated too soon. Maybe that's part of the reason here and presumably this approach was engrained into a number of people other people at Volvo too. SPA XC90 was designed well before Thomas joined (joined in 2012, SPA XC90 would have been completed in 2010). Seemingly SPA XC90 was in fact a Steve Mattin led design initilally (he left in March 2009 and Peter Horbury returned). Peter left in late 2011. So maybe it's pretty much a Peter Horbury car?

 

New EV brand (high priced) barely survives. I feel sad to see Polestar could be gone pretty soon. It is not even as viable as Lotus. They started talking about P*7,8 but it is just some talk. P*5 and 6 maybe will still be built. But costly P* marketing probably will be cut. It is better just to sell P* cars in Volvo dealerships. But Volvo doesn't want to.

I have no idea who the new CEO is and no confidence he could do better than Ingenlath.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about the Polestar 6 being built! I guess that the first and most important task of the new CEO is to make Polestar profitable. And I doubt that the Polestar 6 is the model that can contribute to this.

I rather expect a new positioning of Polestar, maybe with even more focus to China, where most EVs are sold worldwide (and a still growing market).

The ties between Volvo and Polestar are cut. Polestar is now just another brand like Zeekr or Lynk&Co. Neither of them are being sold in Volvo dealerships (and anyway, dealerships are a thing of the past, nothing that a young brand like Polestar would go back to).

 

I disagree that Polestar is another brand like Zeekr or Lynk and Co. Polestar still may keep its Volvo ties. It's more than just the top designers that make those ties. It's general sharing and base location and there's no indication that will change. I don't see the why of making Polestar like Zeekr or Lynk and Co. that are clearly more marketed toward the Chinese market but trying to expand to the European market. Polestar already is European. Lotus isn't just another brand like Zeekr or Lynk and Co. But they're smaller.

I never saw the sense of the Polestar 6. That's a vehicle Polestar does not need to make. I'd cancel it and get going on the Polestar 2 replacement. You need that bread and butter car out. It needs to have more space and to be updated. There is a good fan club of the 2 that can grow. The 6, at best, is a way too expensive halo car that Polestar doesn't need to spend time and money making IMO.

 

Polestar should focus in Europe and USA. There is no place in China but ony frustration. It is too hard for new brands to survive. No name, high price, no string attached to Chinese culture, nobody gives a look. Well they do take a look at the beauty, but nobody buys.

Online only sales is still too hard in USA, and service shop is still needed. Maybe better in Europe.

 

I wonder if Lohscheller is really auditioning for the top job at the soon to be recombined Volvo + Polestar? Another bargin bin CEO but at least he brings automotive experience.

Might help explain Varela's move to Rivian, fewer sr. exec slots in the upcoming combo entity and he was told impending combo-CEO position wasn't going to be occupied by him?

I'll be curious to observe Rowan's demeanor on 4-5 Sep, performance of EX90 and updated XC90 could be critical to his retention. Or maybe he's already cooked and the top job is down to Lohscheller and Annwall? Both have CFO backgrounds and Geely might finally be over it - looking for a CFO as combined brand manager and goal-seek to profitability via Geely reskins and euthanizing SPA2.

 

SPA-2 is EX90, Polestar 3, ES90 and a 3rd product. Way to late in the programme so think about canning SPA-2. Later models in the cycle i.e. the EX60 onwards are SEA = GPA = SPA-3 anyway. The decision to go EV only in 2021 meant there was no need to keep SPA-2 (ICE capable) for later products. With SEA ready (and as per the launch PHEV / ICE capable too(as Geely is now starting to demonstrate with Starship and Zeekr SUV) its better economies of scale to switch later programmes from SPA-2 to SEA derived.

Volvos using SEA still differentiate themselves from other Geely products by using Volvo's own hardware and software, core computing. Been discussed elsewhere that Volvo is ahead of the curve with this strategy albeit a Geely wide architecture brings economies of scale vs Volvo's independence. Plus it's been harder to deliver than expected so EX90 onwards has sadly been delayed.

 

That's a shame for Thomas. But his appointment as CEO was always a bit of an odd move. He's a very gifted designer so the CEO post was a bit of a misfit for his career background and skill set. CEO is a business management, bordering accounting role. Management is a team effort so he'd have others around for the minutiae of financial running of the company, again not his skill set. Designers are CEOs in major car companies is very rare. Pretty much unheard of. Even engineers making it to CEO is rare and an often celebrated occurence for engineers as "someone who gets what we are talking about". But usually it's neither designers nor engineers who are CEO. For an engineer to move to CEO it is at least still a numerical type role vs a typical designer's skill set and outlook.

Thomas is clearly the fall guy for Polestar's problems. CEOs usually take the fall in such circumstances. I wonder where he will go next. A real treasure of a designer for Volvo, shame to have first lost him to Polestar (albeit he still over saw Volvo for a few years in parallel) and now potentially lost to both brands. With Jeremy Offer now at the helm at Volvo (albeit not in exactly the same chief designer role. Jeremy Offer is more managing two senior designers, one for exterior and interior. Bringing a different perspective on the project/product (from a user interface) but not a traditional car designer leading a team of interior and exterior designers.

Geely would be mad to let Thomas Ingenlath go. Maybe he'll appear at Zeekr or Lynk & Co down the road from Volvo in Uni3 in Goteborg?

Maximillian Missoni is also a loss to both Volvo and Polestar. Again a very talented designer. But like Thomas he's a long term VW guy really. Well 10 years VW then 8 years Volvo. Geely would also be mad to let him go.

Only Max knows why he left. Fancied a new opportunity? Got a great offer? I'm not going to automatically assume the worst that he left as Thomas did. Thomas is the CEO fall guy. Nowt for Max to leave over re Polestar's finances.

In general it's worth remembering that Volvo still owns 18% of Polestar. They have said (a number of times) that they still collaborate on R&D and production. Polestar still uses Volvo's Hallerad test track (as do Lynk & Co and Zeekr).

In terms of brand image and the brands issues:

The Polestar image of sporty and performance comes form the original incarnation as the Christian Dahl run race team in Goteborg racing Volvos for Volvo Cars. Then globally know for performance hot Volvos as concepts, S60 and V60 Polestar and Polestar Engineered tunes. The EV incarnation of Polestar has happened in parallel to keeping that sporty and performance link via the "Polestar Engineered". In terms of products though it's a single S40 sized 400 bhp EV. The BST and Goodwood appearances have been helpful too I think. But considering the brand image (see interviews with Thomas Ingenlath and others) as performance, sporty, SUV-coupes, higher performance that Volvo and "a Swedish brand that is what Volvo isn't or can't be" then that's really coming with the coupe-SUV 500 bhp 3, the coupe-SUV 4, the high performance sedan 5 and the roadster (actually C70 sized) 6. So this sporty performance EV brand is coming, it's starting to be here! Delays to the 3 due to SPA-2 software meant that was meant to be a 2021, 2022 car with the 4 2023 (as happened), 5 2024/5 and 6 2026. So right now there should be two sporty coupe-SUVs building that "sporty performance EV" image.

Added to this challenge is that the adoption of EVs is slowing in the EU and US. That doesn't help.

In China, a plethora of EV brands, many loss making, means it's a very challenging market. Chinese consumers seem to have suddenly decided that "local Chinese brands that start from nothing and appear suddenly that no one had heard of is cool". Brand heritage has little relevance. So also hard for Western brands including Polestar.

Relying on the Chinese EV market is also not a good move.

So yeah, Polestar is kinda stuck with US and EU consumers who are less keen on EVs (pretty much no US or EU OEM saw that coming, as has been discussed elsewhere with new PHEV and HEV programmes for all OEMs now) and Chinese consumers are transitioning to EVs but have decided that local unheard of Chinese brands are the ones to go for. In a crowded automotive market a new car from a new brand no one has heard of is really appealing. In the West it's seen as embarrassing if you don't buy an established brand and have to explain what the heck your car is.

I agree with the point above that some Western car buyers may have rejected Polestar as "it's Chinese". Chinese are seemingly rejecting Western brands as well.

All of these problems are affecting Lotus too re the other post about their woes.

I suspect Geely will plan to ride out the storm. Building both brands and their images. Polestar with the 3, 4, 5 and 6 for a future where the EU and US do shift to EVs. Thomas Ingenlath in a recent in depth interview (I'll try to find the link) did say that PHEV or HEV Polestars wasn't an impossibility. SEA platform. ICE capable. Zeekr is now doing a PHEV on SEA! So maybe that's a needed solution for Polestar for EU and US markets. How retrofittable the 3, 4 and 5 might be for that is another question.

As for Zeekr, I come back to my earlier point that I really don't get the point of Zeekr outside of China. Inside China it's effectively Geely duping shallow Chinese buyers who want "new brand, no one has heard of". By sales numbers it's working. In EU and US, what's the point of Zeekr? If it's premium brand it's treading on Volvo and Polestar's toes. Better to build those brands up. By number of models and roll out pace, money and lots of it is flowing into Zeekr. NB lots of design and development work done in Sweden. Would be nice to see such funding and pace flow into Polestar and Volvo some more.

The only saving grace I can see for Zeekr in Europe is it differentiating itself with more wild styling. That way whilst the premium brand market is finite there could be the scenario that someone who doesn't want a Volvo and wants something a bit more wild opts for a Zeekr instead of say Merc, BMW and Audi. Merc and Audi being quite conservatively styled though. My point is a sale that Volvo won't get at least goes to another Geely group product instead of a competitor in Merc, BMW and Audi etc. Zeekr needs to be very very clearly not offering a Volvo type offer. As for differentiating Zeekr from Polestar, I'm not so sure. Zeekr is performance sporty EV too? Same pricing? Feels too subtle a distinction between the two at the moment.

Lotus is at least a market above and vastly more expensive.

 

That's a shame for Thomas. But his appointment as CEO was always a bit of an odd move. He's a very gifted designer so the CEO post was a bit of a misfit for his career background and skill set. CEO is a business management, bordering accounting role. Management is a team effort so he'd have others around for the minutiae of financial running of the company, again not his skill set. Designers are CEOs in major car companies is very rare. Pretty much unheard of. Even engineers making it to CEO is rare and an often celebrated occurence for engineers as "someone who gets what we are talking about". But usually it's neither designers nor engineers who are CEO. For an engineer to move to CEO it is at least still a numerical type role vs a typical designer's skill set and outlook.

Thomas is clearly the fall guy for Polestar's problems. CEOs usually take the fall in such circumstances. I wonder where he will go next. A real treasure of a designer for Volvo, shame to have first lost him to Polestar (albeit he still over saw Volvo for a few years in parallel) and now potentially lost to both brands. With Jeremy Offer now at the helm at Volvo (albeit not in exactly the same chief designer role. Jeremy Offer is more managing two senior designers, one for exterior and interior. Bringing a different perspective on the project/product (from a user interface) but not a traditional car designer leading a team of interior and exterior designers.

Geely would be mad to let Thomas Ingenlath go. Maybe he'll appear at Zeekr or Lynk & Co down the road from Volvo in Uni3 in Goteborg?

Maximillian Missoni is also a loss to both Volvo and Polestar. Again a very talented designer. But like Thomas he's a long term VW guy really. Well 10 years VW then 8 years Volvo. Geely would also be mad to let him go.

Only Max knows why he left. Fancied a new opportunity? Got a great offer? I'm not going to automatically assume the worst that he left as Thomas did. Thomas is the CEO fall guy. Nowt for Max to leave over re Polestar's finances.

In general it's worth remembering that Volvo still owns 18% of Polestar. They have said (a number of times) that they still collaborate on R&D and production. Polestar still uses Volvo's Hallerad test track (as do Lynk & Co and Zeekr).

In terms of brand image and the brands issues:

The Polestar image of sporty and performance comes form the original incarnation as the Christian Dahl run race team in Goteborg racing Volvos for Volvo Cars. Then globally know for performance hot Volvos as concepts, S60 and V60 Polestar and Polestar Engineered tunes. The EV incarnation of Polestar has happened in parallel to keeping that sporty and performance link via the "Polestar Engineered". In terms of products though it's a single S40 sized 400 bhp EV. The BST and Goodwood appearances have been helpful too I think. But considering the brand image (see interviews with Thomas Ingenlath and others) as performance, sporty, SUV-coupes, higher performance that Volvo and "a Swedish brand that is what Volvo isn't or can't be" then that's really coming with the coupe-SUV 500 bhp 3, the coupe-SUV 4, the high performance sedan 5 and the roadster (actually C70 sized) 6. So this sporty performance EV brand is coming, it's starting to be here! Delays to the 3 due to SPA-2 software meant that was meant to be a 2021, 2022 car with the 4 2023 (as happened), 5 2024/5 and 6 2026. So right now there should be two sporty coupe-SUVs building that "sporty performance EV" image.

Added to this challenge is that the adoption of EVs is slowing in the EU and US. That doesn't help.

In China, a plethora of EV brands, many loss making, means it's a very challenging market. Chinese consumers seem to have suddenly decided that "local Chinese brands that start from nothing and appear suddenly that no one had heard of is cool". Brand heritage has little relevance. So also hard for Western brands including Polestar.

Relying on the Chinese EV market is also not a good move.

So yeah, Polestar is kinda stuck with US and EU consumers who are less keen on EVs (pretty much no US or EU OEM saw that coming, as has been discussed elsewhere with new PHEV and HEV programmes for all OEMs now) and Chinese consumers are transitioning to EVs but have decided that local unheard of Chinese brands are the ones to go for. In a crowded automotive market a new car from a new brand no one has heard of is really appealing. In the West it's seen as embarrassing if you don't buy an established brand and have to explain what the heck your car is.

I agree with the point above that some Western car buyers may have rejected Polestar as "it's Chinese". Chinese are seemingly rejecting Western brands as well.

All of these problems are affecting Lotus too re the other post about their woes.

I suspect Geely will plan to ride out the storm. Building both brands and their images. Polestar with the 3, 4, 5 and 6 for a future where the EU and US do shift to EVs. Thomas Ingenlath in a recent in depth interview (I'll try to find the link) did say that PHEV or HEV Polestars wasn't an impossibility. SEA platform. ICE capable. Zeekr is now doing a PHEV on SEA! So maybe that's a needed solution for Polestar for EU and US markets. How retrofittable the 3, 4 and 5 might be for that is another question.

As for Zeekr, I come back to my earlier point that I really don't get the point of Zeekr outside of China. Inside China it's effectively Geely duping shallow Chinese buyers who want "new brand, no one has heard of". By sales numbers it's working. In EU and US, what's the point of Zeekr? If it's premium brand it's treading on Volvo and Polestar's toes. Better to build those brands up. By number of models and roll out pace, money and lots of it is flowing into Zeekr. NB lots of design and development work done in Sweden. Would be nice to see such funding and pace flow into Polestar and Volvo some more.

The only saving grace I can see for Zeekr in Europe is it differentiating itself with more wild styling. That way whilst the premium brand market is finite there could be the scenario that someone who doesn't want a Volvo and wants something a bit more wild opts for a Zeekr instead of say Merc, BMW and Audi. Merc and Audi being quite conservatively styled though. My point is a sale that Volvo won't get at least goes to another Geely group product instead of a competitor in Merc, BMW and Audi etc. Zeekr needs to be very very clearly not offering a Volvo type offer. As for differentiating Zeekr from Polestar, I'm not so sure. Zeekr is performance sporty EV too? Same pricing? Feels too subtle a distinction between the two at the moment.

Lotus is at least a market above and vastly more expensive.

Corporate design is so much more than penning car bodies and interiors. Jeremy Offer doesn't just lead two teams (exterior and interior design), it goes way beyond: Customer interaction, user experience, interfaces. If Volvo had wanted an exterior/interior designer, they would have poached someone from s major car manufacturer. But they didn't. Read the CV of Jeremy Offer and the interview he gave, then you can get an understanding of what his role is about.

 

"local Chinese brands that start from nothing and appear suddenly that no one had heard of is cool".

Well this is not the case now. After the bubble a few years ago, many small brand vanished. The popular ones now are those with strong customer ties. The latest new comers are many models tied with Huawei driving assist system, and popular cell phone maker Xiaomi.

Established brands like BYD, LiAuto, NIO, XPeng, are doing well, along with some brands backed by old school ICE makers, Geely, etc.

One of western brands, Tesla, is still more popular than most other brands, only second to BYD.

BBA EVs are not popular because of the high price and old style.

One new brand survived so far is LeapMotor and they offer on par features but price quite lower than competitors.

Polestar suffers from high price and little customer ties. So does Volvo.
Geely is not a very popular name either. The most popular names there are Huawei (even no cars made by them) and Xiaomi (from popular cell phone market). And it is hard to gain popularity for others.

For a new brand to become known by the market, it has to:

• be backed by a strong/popular name.
• priced lower or on par with competitors.
• offer more features, besides space, comfortable seats, refrigerator.

You can see these are all disadvantage for Polestar. A car with good looking only generates some news but doesn't attract buyers.

For comparison, new Zeekr SUV model 7x offers competitive price and more attractive features, like side window curtain, recliner back seat, entertainment pad, sun shade curtain (yes, ironically old school feature). And Zeekr is now a better known brand than Polestar.

 

Why can new Chinese brands create customer ties whereas Western brands such as Polestar and Volvo cannot?

Why is Western brand Tesla seen as cool?

What's behind the "strong/popular" name issue? Geely behind Polestar isn't strong or popular?

Getting a bit like a customer clinic and I appreciate you don't have all the answers but the Chinese market seems a little bizarre in it's priorities vs typical Western car buyers. I'm sure Geely is engaging in research to figure out WTF is going on and what the priorities are. Geely has this insight. Should it not be being passed to other brands e.g. Polestar and Volvo too? Zeekr has rolled out 3 models (001, X and 009) I think with a preview of 7x as well. Faster model roll out than Polestar.

It feels Geely should be investing more funds, resources, people to encourage Polestar along more. The autonomy thus far (and maybe under staffing and less funds than Zeekr and Lynk & Co) means they are lagging behind. In addition to commitment of funds and engineering staff, it feels Polestar needs a bit of a boost or steer from a faster moving parent company. The resources and model generation pace down the road in Goteborg at Lynk and Co and Zeekr show what's possible with cash, more people and maybe a greater sense of getting more done sooner. (Chinese speed has been commented on by a few engineers and designers within the automotive industry. I'd temper that with a preference for thoroughly and well developed robust and reliable vehicles. Rather than rushed development for products that don't last. "Hurry up slowly" as the Swedes say. But really it comes down to funding and extra people to help roll out more models with teams working in parallel rather than effectively the same team doing one model at a time.

Hopefully Geely will assist with funding, resources and people but carefully balance not simply taking over and dominating. A number of articles and even Geely execs refer to their style as investors in a brand, providing funds and leaving them to get on with it. Whereas Ford tended to micromanage things. But it seems there's a bit of a need for some outside influence to help things improve where Polestar is lagging in pace of progress.

 

Polestar and Volvo are core Euro brands. So many people around the net act like the Geely's acquisition means that they're now some Chinese influenced and marketed and dictated brands due to the acquisition .Yet Geely has gone about making other brands that appeal to the Chinese market that are international enough to expand to Europe and beyond. But maybe, these brands are more for the "hip" Asian market, China and beyond (where Japan is considered a conservative Asian market but not necessarily South Korea? But there are other markets.

The thing is, these very Swedish identified brands are more understated and have a heritage. There is no point in Geely trying to compromise that heritage when they already have mostly for-China brands. Yes, they need to be updated but at the same time, they need to keep certain characteristics for people in the West, Europe and the USA while brands like Zeekr and Lynk and Co can go to South America and certain areas of Africa where the Euro brands would be too expensive.

Polestar is a bit more daring version of a Swedish brand, maybe a new Saab in a way even if it is very Volvo influenced. But they are quirkier and more handling-performance oriented than the conservative Volvo therefore there is a distinction between Volvo and Polestar that eventually, if marketed right, people will get. It's not about EV vs. hybrid more than the characteristics and potential markets for these brands. And Volvo and Polestar aren't separated and may not separate beyond this business sell off of shares. They still benefit from being tied together so some things that go to Polestar first can appear at Volvo and Volvo and Polestar will share materials and certain other components unique to them with Polestar.

 

The customer ties are rooted in some kind of halo image:
- Huawei is well known for their strength, and more often because Huawei is pulished by US government and people think it not fair so they give Huawei more welcome for fairness.

- Xiaome is famous for their cellphone and CEO that has made the brand famous in several years. It is similar to what Jobs brought up iphone and Apple followers.

- BYD is the strongest player in EV and hybrid cars and has a long fleet of product line. Their halo is more on techical side but their top sale number in recent years has great halo effect too.

- Tesla has lots of followers already, in both western and Chinese market. When they sell more cars, more new buyers are attracted, as they feel like to buy the best sellers.

These halo image cannot be reproduced by a new Western brands. Even Audi, Mercedes and BMW are worried on their own fame in EV market. And Geely is not strong enough, as just one of the top five car makers following BYD etc.

Zeekr is a good comparison with Polestar as a cousin company. But Zeekr is under sole control of Geely, with more resource and quicker commuication, and more human hours of course. Still it took Zeekr 001 several years to establish the brand in market. And they bring several fresh new models (X, 009, 007, 7x) to market in just a few years. To the contrary, Polestar is a slow moving foreigner brand that only sells an expensive compact P*2 for many years. P*3 are delayed again and again, P*4 is sibling of 001 but more expensive. You can see how this is a very bad marketing position.

 

The customer ties are rooted in some kind of halo image:
- Huawei is well known for their strength, and more often because Huawei is pulished by US government and people think it not fair so they give Huawei more welcome for fairness.

- Xiaome is famous for their cellphone and CEO that has made the brand famous in several years. It is similar to what Jobs brought up iphone and Apple followers.

- BYD is the strongest player in EV and hybrid cars and has a long fleet of product line. Their halo is more on techical side but their top sale number in recent years has great halo effect too.

- Tesla has lots of followers already, in both western and Chinese market. When they sell more cars, more new buyers are attracted, as they feel like to buy the best sellers.

These halo image cannot be reproduced by a new Western brands. Even Audi, Mercedes and BMW are worried on their own fame in EV market.

Zeekr is a good comparison with Polestar as a cousin company. But Zeekr is under sole control of Geely, with more resource and quicker commuication, and more human hours of course. Still it took Zeekr 001 several years to establish the brand in market. And they bring several fresh new models (X, 009, 007, 7x) to market in just a few years. To the contrary, Polestar is a slow moving foreigner brand that only sells an expensive compact P*2 for many years. P*3 are delayed again and again, P*4 is sibling of 001 but more expensive. You can see how this is a very bad marketing position.

Interesting. As you aren't based in China how have you gained this insight?

With ~75 brands in the Chinese OEM market are there not other successes and craved brands other than these? Annual sales by brand in China type data would be good, if anyone publishes it. Dya know of any such publications or links please?

Geely has clearly poured more money and really that's in the form of more people in Zeekr than they have into Polestar. Hence the multiple model role out with via parallel teams (only way to do it). Albeit some things simply take time. As an old boss of mine once said "if a women takes 9 months to make one baby, then 9 women won't make a baby in one month".

Polestar is clearly slower and P3 delay hasn't helped. Interesting that P4 is more expensive than 001. Generally Polestar to be positioned above Zeekr? As you say, the more premium position and price typically are contrary to volume. I think Geely is overly splitting the market by having Zeekr but I'm at risk of endlessly repeating the same point on a few posts. I appreciate more the "need" for a "new" brand for the Chinese market given the consumer attitudes. What else is Zeekr offering vs other Geely brands? But Zeekr in the EU makes far less sense to me. I worry that Zeekr undermines Volvo's / competes with it and even more so the same for Polestar if Zeekr is channeling higher performance or sportiness. If they can afford it and the volumes are there then this internal competition between Zeekr and Polestar could play out to neither's detriment. I still don't see the point though.

Geely saw the slowness and delays at Polestar and seemingly left Volvo to sort it for SPA-2. P4 was on time though I think following P3. Maybe it would have been a year or so earlier with (originally) P3 in 2022 and P4 in 2023, not May 2024 for P4.

I can't help but feel envy of the new models, new sectors and volumes enjoyed by Zeekr when I wish we were seeing such expanded line up, new models and popularity of Volvo. That said, 2023 was the higher sales volume ever in Volvo's history at ~700k. Year on year growth under Geely since 2010.

 

This is a long but interesting interview with Thomas from May 2024

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath on carving a unique EV identity - The Verge

 

“As you aren't based in China how have you gained this insight? ”

I speak Chinese and got all kinds of info from their most popular social media weibo.com.
All in all, Europe, USA and Chinese market are very different. One strategy works there won't work in other market.

Chinese now prefer to new brands from well known company, while elsewhere in the world, people are more comfortable with EV models from well known brands (and well known company of course).

Volvo/Polestar/Lynkco/Zeekr positions are quite tricky in these two kinds of markets. Zeekr (and Galaxy from Geely auto) is much better player in China. Volvo and Polestar have gained better ground in Europe and USA. I'd rather to see they push harder to sell more Volvo and Polestar cars in Europe, instead of bringing in new brands that looks confusing to people there.

Lynkco strategy is even weirder maybe because of mixed management teams in both Europe and China. Lynkco has set footprint in Europe for long time, 5 years maybe, but only limit to one 01 PHEV model and one color. They opened some clubhouse but focused mostly on ride share. Lynkco has been selling a series of cars in China currently, from ICE 01, 03 to PHEV 06, 07, 08, 09, to EV z01, and more to come. However none of these is offered in Europe. Seems they don't have a plan to gain more market share with more models. Maybe Zeekr is preferred by Geely holding company for Europe, but Zeekr as a fresh start in Europe is not a good strategy IMHO.