Polestar is pressing ahead with its shift away from agency sales to a more conventional dealer model, and it will accelerate this move when the volume-chasing Polestar 7 crossover arrives later this decade, according to UK managing director Matt Galvin.
Until recently, the brand only sold cars online, while the handful of Polestar ‘spaces’ simply served as showrooms and as bases for test drives.
New sites are planned in order to boost sales volumes and cater to the additional interest from customers now that there are three cars in the model line-up rather than just one.
The first new dealership will open later in Plymouth, but Galvin says the approach is already working, even with just the existing locations: “It's a behavioural shift. Previously, our retailers were service operators, so they were there to provide a great service and experience to our customers, to show them the cars, to allow them to test drive, but they weren't actually encouraged or able to actively sell a car.”
The number of spaces will grow from eight to 17 in the next 12 months. These will be standalone Polestar sites, rather than ones shared with other Geely Group brands like Volvo. All will have a dedicated pre-owned section, in order to maximise residual values as the first electric Polestar 2s are coming off lease. There will also be a few, such as the recently opened Birmingham site, that will be dedicated to used cars.
Polestar has growing volume aspirations. After the Porsche Taycan-rivalling 5 saloon and the 6 roadster, it will release the 7 crossover SUV, which will require Polestar’s dealer network to expand even further. “What that number is, is to be determined, but we’re never going to be the size of a Ford or Vauxhall network,” said Galvin.
As a result of the new sites and the introduction of the Polestar 3 and 4, the brand’s overall sales in May were up 274% year-on-year, with a bigger proportion of private buyers to company cars than before. Even so, Polestar remains very fleet focused.
Galvin says he’s largely unbothered by the new entrants to the market like Xpeng and BYD, seeing them as a positive for a transition to net zero, but in a different segment, explaining: "They play in a different space; they're more mainstream and more volume-driven, whereas Polestar is a premium performance luxury car brand, so there's room for both."
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