The Chinese-Swedish car brand continues its expansion with a focus on physical retail.
The Chinese-Swedish car brand Polestar (part of Volvo Car Group) plans to enter nine more international markets by the end of 2021, thereby doubling the geography of its presence.
The company announced plans to develop a retail network of salons, which will be increased to 100 outlets, while some of them will work temporarily. At the same time, the company's own network of service shops will grow from 650 to 780 by the end of the year. Thus, Polestar intends to invest in the development of physical retail in order to increase sales of electric sedans.
In 2020, the brand first entered the markets of the United States and Canada, China, as well as Germany, the UK, Belgium and other European markets. In 2021, the company will strengthen its position in the Old World, and will also appear in Australia and New Zealand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In the US, in addition to service centers in 14 metropolitan areas (including San Francisco, San Jose, Boston and New York), new customer centers will appear in cities in California, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas.
The Polestar CEO said that the company does not plan to slow down in 2022: “This constant pace, combined with new retail concepts, will support our goal of exceeding the expectations of our owners.”
To date, the automaker's main product is the Polestar 2 all-electric sedan. In June, it also became known about the company's plans to produce the Polestar 3 electric SUV in the United States. The model will be assembled with Volvo Cars at the Ridgeville plant in South Carolina. Worldwide production of the new car will start in 2022.
To attract new customers, Polestar is relying on physical retail, increasing the number of stores in the countries of operation and continuing its international expansion. In particular, the company intends to develop outlets in the “Polestar Destinations” format outside major cities. In such salons, it will be possible to pick up a car booked and paid for online. The company will also open an additional 60 test drive locations before the end of the year to help its customers access additional Polestar 2 vehicles. The expansion investment was made possible by a new $550 million investment round.
