Polestar USA has ceased to exist, due to the impositions placed on the Swedish performance EV brand by the Trump administration
Polestar has been forced by President Donald Trump’s administration to stop selling cars in the United States, due to new rules targeting Chinese and Chinese-owned carmakers.
Polestar, a brand that has aligned its design ethos with its Swedish roots as a fully-electric, performance-focused spin-off from Volvo, is owned by Chinese automotive giant, Geely, which also owns Lotus and Smart.
Its Polestar 2, the erstwhile rival to the Tesla Model 3, the Polestar 4, and the brand’s new Polestar 5 flagship are all built in China. However, the Polestar 3 SUV – the sister car to the Volvo EX90 – are built at the Volvo plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina.
Yet today, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security refused the Swedish carmaker’s approval to sell new cars from the 2027 model year (MY) onwards.
This is due to the ‘Connected Vehicle Rule’ that restricts the sale of “connected vehicles by connected vehicle manufacturers owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of China or Russia, and vehicles using their covered software”.
According to Washington, Polestar is now a security threat as the White House believes products from these countries may be obligated to share data or allow remote access to connected vehicles in the US.
However, Volvo was granted authorisation to continue importing and selling its cars Stateside, which accounts for 27.2% of all sales globally.
On the back of Polestar’s withdrawal from the US market, brand CEO, Michael Lohscheller, was pragmatic and confident about the brand’s survival and adopted a global outlook in his statement.
“The automotive industry is entering a new phase, based on regional dynamics,” he explained. “Our strategy reflects that, with Europe being our largest growth engine and our plan to manufacture Polestar 7 in Europe.
“Our record sales in 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 show that we are making strong progress, with several new market launches taking place in Europe this year. In addition, we will continue to invest in markets where we have opportunities to continue to grow, like Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Canada.”
Polestar has already confirmed that an estate version of the new Polestar 4 will be introduced by the end of this year, and a new Polestar 7 crossover will be added to the brand’s line-up by 2028.
