Development Issues Mean Polestar, Volvo EVs Are Being Delayed

Photo: Polestar

Polestar is reportedly slashing its 2023 volume forecast by as much as 25 percent, and it has announced the delay of its high-volume electric crossover: the Polestar 3, according to Automotive News. The culprit? Software development issues that have plagued Volvo’s new electric platform that will serve as the underpinnings for the 3 as well as the upcoming Volvo EX90 flagship.

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3 production is now supposedly being delayed to the first quarter of 2024. That’s a big pushback from the initial production start time of August 2023, and it’s the second delay for the Polestar 3. After the first, production was scheduled to begin at Volvo’s North Charleston, South Carolina factory in December of 2023. As for the EX90, well that’s even further in the future. AutoNews says we can expect to see deliveries of the three-row EV in the third quarter of 2024.

This delay is reportedly adding a lot of pressure to Polestar dealers. Right now, they’ve got just one vehicle to sell — the Polestar 2 — and even for that little crossover, inventory is limited. The 3 is thought to be essential for the U.S. market.

“The EV market is uber-competitive; everybody is super-aggressive. We need throughput; we need a product,” a Polestar dealer told Automotive News. “It’s an SUV world and the Polestar 2 is not an SUV.”

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The outlet reports that Polestar now expects 2023 global sales to be somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles. It’s a sizable chunk away from an earlier forecast that called for 80,000 units, but it’s not all bad. No matter what, Polestar will still see year over year growth from 2022 when it sold a tick under 51,500 vehicles.

As with many other automakers, Polestar is cutting its workforce. AutoNews says Polestar is going to chop down its headcount by 10 percent. That comes out to about 300 jobs across the company, and it has started a global hiring freeze. That means the 500 jobs it reportedly intended to add this year are off the table.