00:00Polestar, part of the Geely family, has recorded its highest ever first quarter sales.
00:06More than 13,000 Polestar cars were sold from January to March.
00:10That's up 7% on a year ago.
00:12The company says the results prove the resilience of the EV sector
00:16in the face of tough geopolitical conditions.
00:20Polestar CEO Michael Loeschella has been telling me more about those sales
00:24and what they say about the industry.
00:27We grew our retail sales figures in the first quarter of this year by 17%.
00:31So Polestar globally sold around 13,100 cars.
00:35That's a good improvement.
00:36It shows that we are doing the right things.
00:39Needless to say, a lot of uncertainty in the global economy.
00:42But for Polestar, it's all about Europe.
00:4478% of our sales are in Europe.
00:46So we feel very good what's happening.
00:49And we see more and more interest, actually, with regard to EVs.
00:52More people come to our retailers and ask for EVs.
00:55So we feel good about what's happening on that side.
00:58Is that growing demand in electric vehicles due mostly to the turbulence
01:05we're seeing around the price of fossil fuels?
01:08Or is there more to it?
01:10No, I see two elements.
01:12I mean, first of all, a lot of people are interested in emission-free mobility, right?
01:17And we have very good offers.
01:19More and more cars come to the market.
01:21And there's a growing demand.
01:23But this uncertainty helps, actually, EV sales, right?
01:27And I call it like there is pump anxiety.
01:30So people are nervous about, okay, what are the costs now of fuel?
01:34And more and more people are interested in EVs now.
01:36That's a fact.
01:37And obviously, we want to benefit from this.
01:39Let's talk about Polestar's growth compared to the general EV market.
01:45Is Polestar doing better or keeping its head above water with the competition?
01:50Where would you place Polestar?
01:52Now, I see that we do better than the competition, especially in Europe.
01:56So we are gaining share.
01:58And that's the result of two things.
02:00We have launched new products, especially Polestar 4, which is our best-selling car,
02:04which grew by 46%.
02:05And we have more and more retail locations globally.
02:08So we have increased the number of retail locations to 230.
02:13So we feel those are the two reasons why we do well.
02:16So we are ahead of the competition.
02:18It's an interesting situation you have with a traditional car brand in Volvo
02:23and then the new EV, Geely brand as well, working together to create Polestar.
02:30Does that give you an edge or does it create certain different approaches
02:35that you have to overcome?
02:37No, our setup is as follows.
02:39So we have our own retailers.
02:41They have separate showrooms, but all of them also sell Volvo.
02:44And we have a lot of service points.
02:46So that's a benefit, right?
02:48So people are very, very comfortable with our service.
02:51They know where to find it.
02:54And that's a benefit.
02:55And this combination, I think, makes us very strong.
02:58So, I mean, all our retailers have also Volvo
03:02and then sell Happy Lipolster at the same time in different showrooms.
03:05It's a very big benefit.
03:07Let's focus in on Europe.
03:09First of all, sales really strong in Europe.
03:12Do you see a direct correlation between infrastructure and charging points and good sales?
03:20I think more and more elements come together, right?
03:22Charging infrastructure is improving.
03:25More and more products come to the market.
03:27People are trying out electrification.
03:30They get used to it.
03:31And then, of course, this uncertainty or what I call, again, pump anxiety is helping.
03:36And, I mean, transformation takes time.
03:38And I think we see this.
03:40It's going in the right direction.
03:41We will see further growth in EV markets.
03:44And, of course, it's our intention to benefit from this, right?
03:47And interestingly enough, it's not only in Scandinavia, Germany and UK.
03:52It's also now coming to Southern Europe,
03:54where historically we were thinking those are not EV markets yet.
03:58But EV penetration is growing in many markets in Europe.
04:01Talk to us about the strategy going forward for Europe.
04:05So, two things.
04:07First of all, we continue to increase the number of retail locations, right?
04:11Currently, we have 230.
04:12We want to go to a number of 300.
04:15So, coming even closer to our customers, making sure they're happy,
04:20they're confident with everything we offer.
04:22And the second is we will bring more products to the market.
04:25And especially in segments which are growing faster,
04:29we will bring a compact SUV car to the market.
04:32We will have a new variant of our best-selling, the Polestar 4.
04:36And we will also have a Polestar 2 successor.
04:39So, all this together is like more retail location, better products.
04:43And then, of course, making sure that our brand is more recognized by people
04:48as we are still a relatively young brand.
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