Earlier this morning, the Financial Times reported that Polestar may not be able to offer upcoming models like the Polestar 2 in the U.S. due to tariffs on imported goods from China, but now the company is claiming there is nothing to worry about.
The Polestar 2 is a fully-electric compact sedan meant to take on the Tesla Model 3 with a 78 kWh battery, 275 mile range and 408 horsepower. The car was previously reported to start at €40,000, or approximately $45,000 in the U.S. at current exchange rates.
Polestar plans to manufacture its models in China, as it’s the largest market for EVs in the world, and then ship those cars for sale in other markets like the U.S. The trouble is the U.S. and China have been in a costly trade war recently.
A tariff on $250 billion of Chinese goods went into effect on Jan. 1, but the two governments are currently in negotiations to reach a new agreement.
And today, the Financial Times published a quote from Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar, claiming that the business case for selling the brand’s cars in the U.S. was strained due to U.S. tariffs on cars imported from China. Here’s more from FT:
“The business case for bringing the car to the US is highly dependent on the type of tariffs we have,” Polestar chief executive Thomas Ingenlath told the Financial Times.
High tariffs would make the car too expensive, he said. “It wouldn’t make sense to offer the car for a ridiculous price.”
Polestar would look to expand into other markets, most likely untapped European countries such as Switzerland or Austria, to compensate, he said.
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A Polestar spokesperson clarified that the company has accounted for the expected impact of the tariffs, telling Jalopnik, “The Polestar 2 is coming to the USA, and the pricing announced on February 27th includes the current tariffs.” Someone should tell the CEO on the floor of the auto show, then.
That should mean the tariffs and any other taxes are already accounted for the approximate $45,000 starting price of the Polestar 2 in the U.S., and that’s before taking advantage of any EV government tax credits.
The “Launch Edition” model would start at roughly $67,790, and it will be the only trim produced for the first year starting in 2020 with the base models going into production afterwards, according to the company.
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Just cross your fingers and keep in mind that this is politics, so a lot could change by the time the car goes into production.
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