2024 wasn’t what many would define as a good year for Polestar in Australia, with the brand experiencing a 30 per cent drop in sales from the year prior despite adding two models to its lineup.
Polestar delivered just 1713 vehicles in Australia throughout 2024, down on the 2457 it delivered in 2023 and only just up on its 1524 deliveries made in 2022 when it debuted on the local market.
While the Polestar 3 large SUV and Polestar 4 mid-sized SUV were added to the range in the second half of the year, they combined for just 254 sales, with the Polestar 2 accounting for the lion’s share with 1459 examples sold.
This was down more than 40 per cent on the prior year, pushing the liftback outside the top 10 best-selling electric vehicles (EVs) list, behind more expensive alternatives such as the BMW i4 (2062 sales) and the Tesla Model 3 (17,094 sales).
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Polestar 2, 3, and 4
However, this isn’t cause for concern, according to recently appointed managing director Scott Maynard, who took the reins of Polestar Australia during 2024.
Speaking to CarExpert, Mr Maynard said the drop in sales was anticipated but could turn around this year now that Polestar 4 is occupying the lucrative mid-sized SUV market.
“It is a year that gave a result that really was expected,” Mr Maynard told CarExpert.
“All of our customers knew that we were coming with [Polestar] 4 and 3, so there was an understandable drop-off in sales of 2 in anticipation of those two cars.
“We’d expected that the volume [of Polestar 2 sales] wouldn’t match 2023 levels.
“The interest that we’re seeing now expressed in Polestar 4 and Polestar 3, even though that’s a smaller-volume player, is now hitting expectations and we’re happy with that.
“We expect to see that the volumes through the course of 2025 will rise.”
When asked whether Polestar would introduce further price cuts – such as those of up to $15,000 for the Polestar 2 last year – to spur on sales, Mr Maynard says this is unlikely.
“There is no talk at the moment of price adjustments. We will always work to remain competitive, but our preference is to try and do that through the adding of value, rather than the reduction in price,” he said.
“However, we’re always keeping an eye on the competitive set and making sure that we’ve got our product in the right spots. If there’s a need to do price adjustments, then we take that.
“We made sure the Polestar 4 was priced competitively against the adjustment to the luxury car tax (LCT), and we’ll make sure that we are keeping an eye on those types of break points.
“But it’s not about wholesale discounting and its knock-on effect on residuals and buyer confidence. That’s not what we want.”
Following another update to the Polestar 2 last year, the electric liftback’s local lineup was reduced from seven to five variants, with the Pilot Pack becoming standard equipment rather than a $3500 option, while prices were also cut by $5000.
Despite this, the base Polestar 2 still costs $7500 more than the most affordable Tesla Model 3, which has greater access to the latter brand’s network of public chargers.
The Polestar 4 meanwhile was given a $3000 price cut before deliveries began, which the company claimed at the time was to bring it below the LCT, even though it was due to sneak under the adjusted threshold.
While the Polestar 3 has been on sale in Australia since September, a new base variant which is almost $15,000 less expensive than the current entry model is yet to arrive in showrooms.
