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Volvo Shifts Polestar 3 Production Entirely To the US (arstechnica.com) 64

Posted by BeauHD from the made-in-America dept.
Polestar and Volvo are ending Polestar 3 production in Chengdu, China, and consolidating all output of the electric SUV at Volvo's plant in South Carolina. "The move to consolidate global Polestar 3 production in Charleston help[s] generate efficiencies for both companies, whilst also underscoring our confidence in the plant and the role it plays in our manufacturing footprint," said Hakan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars. "The U.S. is a very important market for Volvo Cars, both to support our growth ambitions as well as a strategic production site to meet regional and export demands." Ars Technica reports: Volvo had a challenging 2025, with sales falling by 7 percent. Meanwhile, Polestar, which was spun out from the Swedish OEM's performance arm into a standalone startup in 2017, had a rather good 2025, seeing a 34 percent increase in sales. So increasing the proportion of Polestar 3s to come out of South Carolina seems sensible. And as we learned last September, the midsize electric Volvo EX60 will also go into production at the South Carolina site later this year, and then we'll see a still-unnamed hybrid Volvo in 2030.

The two companies also announced today that Volvo agreed to extend part of a shareholder loan it made to Polestar and will convert the rest into Polestar shares. Polestar will still owe Volvo $661 million, due at the end of 2031, and another $274 million will become Polestar stock now, with a further $65 million in the second quarter of the year. Since December, Polestar has also raised $1 billion through three equity financing investments.

Volvo Shifts Polestar 3 Production Entirely To the US More | Reply

Volvo Shifts Polestar 3 Production Entirely To the US

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  • ... after almost being delisted from NASDAQ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rta ( 559125 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @07:55PM (#66071252)

    Alright. I don't have anything against Polestar, but again, wtf happened to basic journalism?

    It seemed strange that consolidating production in the US would save anyone money, but also this line about raising equity financing was weird:
      " Since December, Polestar has also raised $1 billion through three equity financing investments".

    A quick search or two later we find out (maybe it is known to some, but i didn't know) that they had to do a 30:1 reverse split in Dec 2025 to get their share price above the $1 threshold NASDAQ requires (and they got a new CEOs in a bit before that too).

    And while that "34 percent increase in sales." in 2025 MAY have been good... they still lost ~$35000 per vehicle sold.
    I wish them the best and maybe they'll pull it out, but the upbeat tone of the article is kinda misleading.

    • Polestar makes a nice vehicle. I was seriously considering a used one because they were around $25k.

      • Polestar makes a nice vehicle. I was seriously considering a used one because they were around $25k.

        My own experience with used vehicles is that there's always some reason the previous owner got rid of it. At least with my Bolt that I'd bought used, that reason was the battery recall (which was replaced, and the powertrain warranty counter reset).

        Also, now it's probably a bit late to get a good deal on a used EV now that gas prices are nuts and the used EV credit is gone.

        • I will never buy an EV used. People keep saying these have monitoring but I saw a Tesla battery teardown recently and they were surprised how few sensors there were.

          • We know you're completely and utterly ignorant about EVs. That's fine, more cars for the rest of us who have a more intellectual approach than you looking at a video and thinking you're a battery monitoring expert.

            • I just said, I am going by people who did a teardown. I think that word doesn't mean what you think it means. Seems like maybe ignorance to you means when someone says things you don't like. Have you done a teardown of a Tesla battery?

              • And people who do teardowns are also not the same people who do design. It's easy to look intelligent criticising something while taking it apart.

                Now back in the real world Teslas (despite what I think of their build quality) have demonstrated to be some of the most reliable long term battery platforms on the market with literally countless Teslas these days happily driving along at almost peak performance with a milage well beyond what many cars would be scrapped at.

                You're ignorant. Maybe you're working on

          • I think you are mostly interested in the number of cycles and the charge/discharge curve. The only sensor in a battery pack would be temperature, and how many would you really need to get a rough idea of the bulk pack temperature?
          • What if they replaced the battery? I realize they probably don't since those are really expensive, but it may end up becoming part of the resale process if enough people share your sentiment. It would certainly be a big sticking point for me. I know a guy who just had to replace the battery in his Tesla, and the numbers involved were not encouraging.

            Also, they archived our other conversation, so I just wanted to remind you to stay alive. Capitalism and Socialism are inherently incompatible, so you co

        • My own experience with used vehicles is that there's always some reason the previous owner got rid of it.

          Of course there is, but that reason may be completely benign. For example my car is going on the used market next year for no reason other than the lease agreement expires and I automatically get a new one. A few cars back I sold my car because I moved country. My sister sold her last car because it didn't have the space for a baby seat and a pram and needed something larger. My dad sold his last car because my mother couldn't climb into the cab and they needed something smaller.

          Sure in between all that I s

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by phfpht ( 654492 )

      ... wtf happened to basic journalism?

      You ask **THIS** question in 2026?
      How long were you in that coma? :-)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      TFA doesn't mention the batteries either. Are they moving battery production to the US as well, or will those still be imported?

      • Could be either, but there are multiple battery plants either complete or under construction down here in the South, so I'm betting they'll go for the closer option.

    • Your downbeat view is sort of reflected by looking at numbers in a single point. Yeah they lost $35000 per vehicle sold, but this is a reduction in losses from the past. This is one industry where a few things are important: Volume and product range, and Polestar has made strides in both in the past 2 years.

      Their products going back a bit were somewhat rubbish. That new CEO as a first order of business questioned why the former Volvo "performance" unit would ever produce a front-wheel drive car (Polestar 2

    • Positioning themselves around a corporate bailout. Something they would never get from China without giving up ownership of the company.

  • I'd rather (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @08:27PM (#66071280)
    have a motherboard made in the US.

    • have a motherboard assembled in the US.

      There, I fixed it for you. We're way too far behind to do much other than order bags of parts from China and have robots (what, you thought we'd hire humans?) assemble them like IKEA furniture. Okay, we might need a human or two to refill the parts bins on the robots.

    • Remember when that was possible? I vaguely do.

      • So do I. I used to work in upright freezer manufacturing (machine operator on third shift) (somehow, I installed myself as the indirect lead person and department manager... my machine determined if everything ran, and repairs take precedence over everything)... miss those days!
        Now, the place is a 1.3 million sq.ft. empty building with a rail line going into it for chemical delivery.

        When you could work all month on a regular schedule and afford rent and still have a good chunk left? Yeah, the good days...

  • for the illegal tariffs to be struck down.

  • generates piles of sex & porn jokes

  • They just figured out you can install remote killswitches and spyware from anywhere. You just send over the ROM and load the malicious firmware once it comes off the line in Charleston.

  • Miss Lindsay and GOP Reps to ban them. The way Idaho, was it, tried to ban sales of electric cars.

    Love the MAGAt who's pro-electric car....

  • So an US based Volvo will be full of US spyware when exported to Europe.. no thank you, I'd rather be spied on by China, and have a much cheaper car but with the same or better features, than being spied on by the US.

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