Polestar revenue collapses

Polestar’s first-quarter revenue fell to $337 million, wiping out more than half of its top line from a year earlier. (webpronews.com) The company reported about 7,200 global deliveries for the January-to-March quarter, down 55% year over year. In the same quarter of 2025, Polestar had reported $608 million in revenue, 12,304 retail sales, and a cash position of $732 million. (webpronews.com) (markets.financialcontent.com) The drop follows a very different 2025 for Polestar, when the company said first-half revenue rose 56% and it reiterated a target for 30% to 35% compound annual retail sales growth from 2025 through 2027. It also reported record 2025 retail sales of 60,119 vehicles, up 34% from 2024. (sec.gov) (finance.yahoo.com) That swing leaves Polestar trying to explain how a brand that posted record annual retail sales in 2025 produced its weakest recent quarter just months later. The strain is showing in its financing: Volvo Cars said on March 31 it would convert about $274 million of Polestar shareholder debt into equity. (finance.yahoo.com) (volvocars.com) Polestar is also reshaping where it builds cars as tariffs and sourcing have become more important to electric-vehicle economics. The company said in late March that global production of the Polestar 3 will be consolidated at Volvo’s plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, with manufacturing in Chengdu, China ending in late 2026. (finance.yahoo.com) At the same time, Polestar is still telling investors that demand has not disappeared everywhere. On April 9, the company said first-quarter 2026 retail sales reached 13,126 cars, up 7% from the 12,263 it reported for the same period a year earlier, and that its sales network had expanded to 230 retail points from 154. (polestar.com) (cadillacnews.com) That gap between rising retail sales and collapsing reported revenue points to timing, mix, and accounting differences rather than a simple count of cars handed to customers. Polestar’s earlier filings tied revenue improvement to a higher share of newer, higher-margin models and to cost cuts, which means a reversal in model mix or wholesale volumes can hit revenue faster than retail demand alone suggests. (polestar.com) (markets.financialcontent.com) Michael Lohscheller said in 2025 that Polestar had a “strong and growing line-up” and was cutting costs while expanding retail partners. The next test is whether those moves can turn higher showroom sales into steadier revenue before more emergency funding is needed. (automotiveworld.com) (volvocars.com)