Polestar Has Record Sales in 1st Half of Year, But Facing Big Challenge
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Polestar has just announced some great news — it had a record 30,423 sales in the first half of 2026. The company achieved 17,296 sales in the second quarter, following 13,127 sales in the first quarter.
“Delivering record sales in the first half of the year, despite regulatory and market headwinds, is a significant achievement. We continue to make progress across the business, delivering strong growth in several key markets, especially in the UK, Germany, South Korea and the Iberia region,” Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller said.
“We continue to expand our retail sales network, which now stands at 235 sites, a growth of 39% compared to last year and remain focused on execution across the business, as we enter an important phase of new model launches in the coming months. The first customer deliveries of Polestar 5 are set to start and production of the Polestar 4 SUV has started, with first deliveries expected during the fourth quarter.”
The problem Polestar is facing is that it is being kicked out of the US market. Because it’s a vehicle developed by a Chinese company that has connected vehicle software (as all cars do these days), it is no longer allowed to be sold in the US starting with the 2027 model year. It was announced recently that the US Commerce Department didn’t grant Polestar an exemption from this new rule.
While the Polestar doesn’t get an enormous amount of sales in the US (or in general), the market has been useful for the brand. So, this is a bit of a hit.
Actually, in the company’s announcement about its record first-half-of-year sales, Polestar did share its global sales as well as its sales minus the US market, presumably to show that the company will be fine. Here’s the table:
So, yeah, the US market isn’t critical for the company. Perhaps it will continue to set sales records even without the US onboard.
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