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EV Start-up Polestar Takes Shots At Tesla, Musk and Volkswagen In Super Bowl Ad (cnbc.com) 55

Posted by BeauHD from the shots-fired dept.
omfglearntoplay shares a report from CNBC: Electric vehicle firm Polestar roasted Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Volkswagen in its Super Bowl ad, with references to "conquering Mars" and "Dieselgate." The electric vehicle startup's "No Compromises" advertisement, which lasted 30 seconds, featured close-up shots of the Polestar 2 with dramatic background music. The ad included phrases such as "no dirty secrets," "no empty promises," and "no greenwashing." Words following "No" during the ad range from general terms such as "epic voiceovers" and "dirty secrets" to "dieselgate" -- referring to a former diesel emissions scandal with Volkswagen -- and "conquering Mars" -- a critique on Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, who has plans to land humans on Mars by 2026. The commercial ends at "No. 2" and then "Polestar 2," the company's all-electric performance car. Further reading: This Year's Super Bowl Broadcast May Seem 'Crypto-Happy'. But the NFL Isn't
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EV Start-up Polestar Takes Shots At Tesla, Musk and Volkswagen In Super Bowl Ad More

EV Start-up Polestar Takes Shots At Tesla, Musk and Volkswagen In Super Bowl Ad

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  • Why do you call Volvo a start-up, they have been around for a long time.

    • Re:Polestar is Volvo (Score:5, Informative)

      by ickleberry ( 864871 ) <web@pineapple.vg> on Monday February 14, 2022 @06:46PM (#62267665) Homepage
      Volvo is Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd from Hangzhou Estd. 1986

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by ganjadude ( 952775 )
        Volvo was founded in Sweden in the 1920s, geely does own them now sure. but its disingenuous to claim they have only been around for 35 years

        • Geely is Chinese.

          The Polestar is made in China.

        • its disingenuous to claim they have only been around for 35 years

          Volvo died when they replaced the RWD 700/900 series with the FWD 850, though it took "car people" a decade to realize that the new cars were nowhere near as reliable.

          What's a "Star of the Pole," anyhow? Clearly some sort of bodily orifice - one can hope it's a vagina.

      • Re:Polestar is Volvo (Score:4, Interesting)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @06:46AM (#62268641) Homepage Journal

        Owned by Geely, but Volvo has been kept independent and does what it wants to. It's been a good deal for Volvo, they get the funding they need to pursue high end projects like their zero serious accidents goal or building a really top notch EV, and Geely gets technology and access to Western markets (they make the batteries).

        And before someone says something about Chinese batteries, they are top quality too. In fact in comparisons between Teslas with US made and Chinese made batteries, the Chinese ones performed better: https://youtu.be/9G4vKQ9MfLs [youtu.be]

        • They may have had a lot of independence from when they got bought out, but since then more and more functions, specially related to manufacturing, has been moving to China. All of the vehicles sold under their Polestar brand (which is no different from Nissan's Infiniti and Toyota's Lexus brands) are manufactured in China, not Sweden or the U.S (i.e where Volvo used to make their cars) and you can be sure the Chinese share of manufacturing will be increasing as a bigger and bigger share of their production

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Yes, and the Chinese manufacturing is good. As I said, people have noticed that Teslas made in China are actually better than the ones made in the US. Same or better quality/finish, and the Chinese made batteries provide more energy and faster charging.

            Because people trust Volvo, and because they remain one of the highest quality car brands, and because the Polestar 2 is unarguably an excellent car, it allows Geely to participate in the European and US markets without the "ugh, I won't buy anything Chinese,

          • Lexus does not manufacture in China. I believe you meant to say that Polestar is a Volvo sub-brand just like Lexus is a Toyota sub-brand. But it reads as if you are implying that Lexus is made in China. Lexus is 100% Japanese

        • ...and does what it wants to

          So it's owned by a different China than the one the world's familiar with.

          I assume there's a reason you push so much disingenuous bullshit on here...

    • right? i mean, its a sub brand for volvo not a new company

      that would be like calling ram a startup when they spun off of dodge. (which in itself was at the time owned by the chrysler corp)

    • Every news post on any site I go to calls them an EV Startup... I think they might be an EV Startup. But yeah, they do work closely with Volvo as they are related... that's apparently why they are pro-environment, can build cars already, and have some racing tech from prior years.

      • My question is are they going out through the Volvo dealer network or not? If so, OK, there will probably be somewhere to get a Polsestar repaired in 10 years.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by teg ( 97890 )

          My question is are they going out through the Volvo dealer network or not? If so, OK, there will probably be somewhere to get a Polsestar repaired in 10 years.

          In Norway, they have their own flagship stores/showrooms - and have had it for a couple of years now. They aim to sell their cars from their web site. Delivery is done at major Volvo dealerships, "with dedicated Polestar staff" (claimed). They use the the Volvo service network.

          • Pretty sure I read you can get repairs at any Volvo place in the US, which is nice considering they are everywhere. I've known Tesla owners to have to drive out of state for repairs, but it has gotten better with more Tesla locations opening up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Inifiniti, Acura, Lexus weâ(TM)re all introduced as new brands even though each were backed and in many cases shared significant components with the mother brand. We just did not use startup back then.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

        When the Acura 1.7 EL is basically a Honda Civic with better trim there isn't much of anything to start.

        When Volkswagen, which has a history entirely of of ICE spins of a division that uses electric engines, it is somewhat of a bigger jump. Some would say the engine/fuel system are a MAJOR component of cars and changing them is a BIG difference.

      • Polestar seems to be a company in its own right now and no longer Volvo's sports division, it went public with a reverse merger
    • That's exactly what I was about to post. Polestar isn't an EV-startup, it's just part of the Volvo brand.

  • You mean all those people running around like idiots, yelling and screaming, were supposed to be ads? That's what those were?

  • Shots At Tesla, Musk, VW (Score:3)

    by stooo ( 2202012 ) on Monday February 14, 2022 @07:03PM (#62267701) Homepage

    It would be better to up Tesla, Musk, VW on the road than in a worthless ad video.

    • Yeah, was this an ad for Tesla or for whatever that other one was?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      They have. The Polestar 2 is an excellent car, and gets pretty much everything right. It's comfortable, quiet, good performance, great range, fast charging, one of the best HMIs and infotainment systems on the market, extremely safe (as you would expect from Volvo), the driver assistance stuff actually works, and looks very nice too.

      • I like the combination of performance but also good build quality and safe. Their intro video https://youtu.be/kVg5ycWTAhQ?l... [youtu.be] showed how this yellow "Spock" block will prevent front collisions from damaging the battery, that is a cool piece of engineering. And somewhere in that video they show how the high beam headlights bend around other cars, very nice.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The matrix LED headlights are really nice. A few brands have them now, they aren't specific to Volvo/Polestar. VW has them in fact.

          I hope they become more common, maybe even mandatory. There are a lot of people with blinding headlights around here. Some have large, high up vehicles like SUVs and vans, some seem to have swapped out their bulbs for halogen or something.

      • 2? (Score:2)

        by Comboman ( 895500 )

        Polestar 2? Telsa 3? I liked it better when cars had actual names instead of numbers.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Algan ( 20532 )

        This car is intended to compete with Model 3. I test drove both and they're both good cars, fun to drive. Tesla is faster, has longer range and benefits from the Supercharger network. I trust Tesla's expertise more when it comes to building an electric powertrain, they've been at it longer. Polestar's body is better built and has some extra bells and whistles, along with a more conventional interior. Polestar is also more expensive, it's only competitive after the federal rebate. If I were to chose between

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The supercharger network is opening up to everyone in Europe, although the other charging networks are often better placed than superchargers anyway. I gather that things are different in the US.

          The M3 has a few issues that are deal breakers for me. The main one being that I don't fit in it. No matter how far back and down I put the seat, and how far forwards and up I put the steering wheel, I can't get in without my knees getting jammed. It's a very low down car and the driving position is not very upright

      • The problem is the ad told no-one this.

  • High Beam Headlight Tech is cool on Polestar (Score:5, Informative)

    by omfglearntoplay ( 1163771 ) on Monday February 14, 2022 @07:06PM (#62267711)

    They have the neat trick of auto-dimming only the general area that the other vehicle coming at you is in. I was impressed by a few youtube videos showing it working well.

    Check this out at time 1:27, https://youtu.be/PySCtbvAvlA?t... [youtu.be] , it's like the highbeams wraps around the front and back of oncoming traffic without blinding the other people.

    I wish the damn tall vehicles over here had something similar, because I am blinded every time I drive in the dark around here.

  • I donâ(TM)t think Tesla has any plans of going out into space. The Chinese company might be thinking about SpaceX.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

      > I don't think Tesla has any plans of going out into space.

      I see your point... but just sayin' .... "Elon Musk launched his own Tesla roadster to space four years ago. Where is it now?"

      https://www.msn.com/en-us/news... [msn.com]

      • There is a difference between: (1) Elon Musk; (2) Tesla; and (3) SpaceX. It was SpaceX that launched Musk's personal car into space. Tesla (the company) had no role in that publicity stunt. Also, launching the car into space had nothing to do with "conquering Mars" (that is an ambition of SpaceX).

        Put simply, what I learned from the advertisement is that, apparently, the folks at Polestar are stupid enough to confuse rocket companies with car companies. That does not inspire confidence in me.

        Furthermore, a G

    • I donâ(TM)t think Tesla has any plans of going out into space. The Chinese company might be thinking about SpaceX.

      Yea, but sometimes [wikipedia.org] if you are a Tesla, you might not get much say in the matter.

  • Yes...to a car completely made in China and owned by a Chinese company. No...thanks.

    • Yes...to a car completely made in China and owned by a Chinese company. No...thanks.

      Agreed. I have lots of things, too many really, that are made in China. A car is never going to be one of them.

    • They are making some PoleStars in South Carolina, USA. I tend to see Polestar as more a Swedish company than anything from what I've seen in their videos.

      Here's a think about some of it:

      https://www.thedetroitbureau.c... [thedetroitbureau.com]

      "upcoming Polestar 3 SUV. Expected to launch in 2022, the battery electric Polestar 3 will be Polestar's first SUV as well as the first to be built at a plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina near Charleston, sharing its assembly line with the Volvo S60 and the next-generation XC90."

  • In October 2020, Polestar issued a recall on all Polestar 2 models due to a software defect that caused loss of power to the vehicle whilst driving. As the vehicles were not capable of OTA software updates it required all of the vehicles to be recalled to a service centre for a manual software update.[16]

    Later the same month a second recall was issued due to faulty inverters.[17]

    Clearly they have compromised on QA.

  • That "startup" (Volvo) had 80 years to experiment with electric driving before Tesla was founded

  • Some of the details look nice, but on the whole, it's not the kind of design Volvo / Polestar is capable of. It's way too ornamented, esp. when viewing from the side. It looks like slightly better designed Skoda (it is part of the VW Group, slotted between Seat and VW proper, so it's not currently allowed to have great chassis designs for market segmentation reasons)

  • They should partner with Dodge and make a sporty performance version and call it the Polecat!

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