In the early hours of August 28, 2024, Eastern Time in the United States, Swedish automaker Polestar issued an announcement that Thomas Ingenlath has resigned as the chief executive officer, and Michael Lohscheller will officially assume the position of CEO on October 1, 2024. It is understood that since the establishment of Polestar, Thomas Ingenlath has held the position of chief executive officer and has successfully laid a solid foundation for the future development of the brand. The successor, Michael Lohscheller, previously served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Volkswagen Group of America. He began serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Opel in 2017. Since then, Michael Lohscheller has held key positions in several new force companies. In July 2021, Michael Lohscheller joined Vietnamese automaker VinFast as the chief executive officer but resigned after only five months. In February 2022, Michael Lohscheller joined the American electric truck startup Nikola as the president and replaced Mark Russell as the chief executive officer in January 2023. In August 2023, Michael Lohscheller resigned as the chief executive officer of Nikola and returned to Europe. Judging from his previous positions, Michael Lohscheller has over 20 years of experience in the automotive industry and has worked in areas such as finance, marketing, sales, purchasing, and logistics. Perhaps he can lead Polestar to a higher level. Polestar is an electric vehicle brand jointly founded by Volvo and Geely. Currently, it has launched Polestar 1, Polestar 2, Polestar 3, Polestar 4, Polestar 5, and Polestar 6. Polestar 1/2/3 adopt the SPA, CMA, and SPA2 architectures respectively, all led by Volvo, while Polestar 4 uses the SEA Haohan architecture, which is a self-developed vehicle manufacturing platform of Geely Holding Group. Polestar 4 was launched in November 2023, with a price range of 299,900 – 399,900 yuan, positioned as a pure electric medium to large SUV. It is also the first vehicle produced by Polestar at Geely’s Hangzhou Bay factory. In terms of power, Polestar 4 offers options of single motor version and dual motor version. As the world’s largest automotive market and new energy vehicle market, Polestar’s sales situation in China is not optimistic. Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that in the first half of 2024, Polestar’s terminal sales in the Chinese market were 1,774 units. This result greatly demonstrates the challenges faced by Polestar cars in the Chinese market, among which Polestar 2 was 905 units and Polestar 4 was 869 units. Shen Ziyu, the chairman and CEO of Polestar Technology, said that although we are currently facing challenges of a slowdown in the pure electric market and price pressure, we will continue to invest in new product development. Currently, there are plans for Polestar 7 and Polestar 8. Shen Ziyu disclosed that the two products, Polestar 7 and Polestar 8, will be first launched in the Chinese market and will be led by the Chinese team in product definition. Currently, discussions and studies have been conducted with Geely Holding Group to strive for the fastest speed and launch in the Chinese market within the next two years. Qin Peiji, the COO of Polestar Technology, also pointed out that although Polestar may not be highly recognized in China, the brand is strong and its products, including Polestar 4, relying on strong genes and capabilities, are expected to rapidly narrow the gap with market leaders. Shen Ziyu candidly admitted that Polestar needs time to develop and recognizes the current situation and timing in the Chinese market, clearly stating that brand development requires time. Of course, China is only one of the markets for Polestar in the global market. In fact, Polestar has been selling electric vehicles in 27 countries around the world, has established 192 retail points and 1,149 service points, and plans to enter seven new markets such as France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Thailand, and Brazil in 2025. The global market will expand to 34 countries and regions. However, Polestar still has a long way to go to become a mainstream in the market, which is also one of the important tasks of the new chief executive officer.
A certain new force officially announces a major adjustment!
