Articles by Tim Nicholson

Polestar, and other EV brands, are benefiting from disgruntled Tesla customers who are turning away from the US EV brand because of CEO Elon Musk’s political affiliations.Tesla’s sales in Australia are down this year, with the January to October total of 32,214 units representing a nearly 20 per cent drop compared with the same period in 2023.In recent years, the Tesla CEO has shifted from his libertarian views and embraced a more right-wing ideology, which has culminated in his fervent support for Republican presidential candidate, and now president-elect, Donald Trump.This support has been rewarded with a position in Trump's proposed cabinet alongside failed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to run the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will be tasked with cutting back federal bureaucracy.Polestar Australia Managing Director Scott Maynard said the Geely-owned EV specialist has benefitted from some buyers’ shift away from Tesla, but added the two brands play in different segments.“I think lots of brands have scooped the pool out of Tesla. Yeah, we're one of them,” he told CarsGuide at the recent Polestar 4 launch.“We consider Tesla to be a little bit more of a volume player than we are. We operate in an area that's perhaps just a little bit more premium and a bit more exclusive, but customers currently driving a Tesla that are disgruntled with some of the directions they've taken, and want a more premium car will come to us for sure. Yeah, we've picked up a bit of business from Tesla.“But you've only got to look at their numbers to see that they've had a bit of an exodus. And so lots of brands have benefited from that, we are one of them.”The Chinese-owned Swedish marque now has three models in its local portfolio - the Polestar 2 sedan, 3 large SUV and 4 mid-size crossover - giving it more fire power than it has previously had with just one model available.With the premium positioning of the 3 and 4 specifically, Maynard said some buyers are cross shopping with other premium brands, while others are coming from traditional internal combustion engine-focussed carmakers.“We still get a lot of conquest business out of people that have been driving traditionally powered vehicles. Polestar has got that brand pull, you know, it's got that brand history. There’s some motor sport in there. Polestar’s the kind of brand that can attract the eye of someone who, up until now, has driven a petrol-powered car," he said.“So it will attract people who didn't necessarily want to go EV, but want a car that looks like a Polestar, and so will then go EV to get that. So we seem to be pulling from a fairly wide range of audiences.“The sustainability story really seems to resonate with a lot of buyers, and we see a lot of people that will come to us because, yes, they've gone to dabble in EV and realised that if you just ask a second level of questions, that there is a variety of colours of ‘green’. That and our story then starts to add up. So we seem to collect buyers from all over the place, but still seem to be closely associating ourselves with that luxury and premium set.”The Polestar 4 has just arrived in Australia priced from $78,500 before on-road costs for the Long Range Single Motor and topping out with the Long Range Dual Motor at $88,350. The Tesla Model Y is technically a rival but pricing for that starts at around $56,000 and tops out at about $83,000 for the Performance.The Polestar 3 kicks off from $118,420 for the Single Motor and tops out at $132,720 for the Dual Motor. The 3 competes with models like the Audi Q8 e-tron, Volvo’s incoming (and mechanically related) EX90, BMW’s iX and the Cadillac Lyriq.

The Polestar 4 is offered initially in two ‘Long Range’ grades, kicking off with the Single Motor that is rear-wheel drive.

Since launching in late 2021, Polestar has only had one model to offer Australians, but now it has three, including the freshly launched Polestar 4. This will likely be the Swedish-Chinese EV brand's biggest seller as it enters the competitive medium SUV segment. The cheaper Tesla Model Y is in its crosshairs but can Polestar break into the mainstream with this tech-laden coupe-style SUV.

The influx of new automotive brands coming to Australia, largely from China, is going to cause serious upheaval in the new-vehicle market, according to the boss of one of Australia’s key EV brands.A number of new entrants have either launched in recent months, or plan to launch in the New Year, muscling in on what is already a crowded new-car market.Fresh brands set to hit our shores soon include Leapmotor, Zeekr, Deepal, Skywell, Geely, JAC, Jaecoo, XPeng, and GAC/Aion.The incoming marques are all vying for a slice of Australia’s market that usually sits at over one million sales annually.Polestar Australia Managing Director Scott Maynard said the new brands will shake up the market, but it will be interesting to watch.“Grab some popcorn, it'll be super exciting,” he said at the Polestar 4 launch recently.“So it'll be fascinating to see who can muscle in and displace some of the existing players. It'll be interesting to see who burns bright, burns out and disappears backwards. It'll be fascinating to see how it plays.”He said there could be some clear benefits from the influx of largely EV focussed brands to Australia.“If it electrifies the Australian national vehicle fleet, then that's good in a way. Not all electric cars are necessarily green, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. And if it then forces an uptick in public charging infrastructure and all of those other little bits and pieces, yep, good as well.”Maynard said Polestar holds a unique place in the Australian market, adding the vast majority of the new entrants are chasing a different EV buyer to that of the Chinese-Swedish brand.“Most of those entrants seem to be playing in the volume market. They all seem to be on a quest for world domination. They're all trying to beat each other to outright share and volume, and that's not where we're trying to play.“So we were operating in a completely different space, and I'm proud of the fact that that's where we sit. But in that sub-70k bracket, it's going to get amazing.”Some of the new marques launching soon share space with Polestar and Volvo under the massive Geely Holdings umbrella, including Zeekr and Geely, while Smart - a collaboration between Geely and Mercedes-Benz - also launched recently.Maynard said there was healthy competition between the Geely brands, but added Polestar was unique in the group.“Each of the brands have their own unique persona, their own identity, and so I wouldn't say that we compete, and certainly not ferociously. We eye each other off, I suppose. But we're proud of our position, and we consider our position quite unique to that of any of the other members of the group. And so you wouldn't compare ourselves in terms of volume, share, or any of those measures.”Clarifying his earlier comment that “not all electric cars are necessarily green”, Maynard said he was highlighting how in the electrified vehicle space, “there's different shades of green”, specifically when it comes to servicing batteries.“You put an eight-year warranty on the battery, and people assume that it lasts eight-and-a-half years. But of course, studies show that it lasts significantly longer than that.”Maynard added that Polestar batteries are easily serviced, some other brands are less so.“Our battery is still able to have repairs performed on it, lid off fashion. So the lid comes off the battery, you can replace an individual cell, whereas more and more of the EV brands running now have a battery that has a series of blades that are all glued together. That glue is vicious stuff, because it forms an integral part of the car, it stops the car from falling in half.“And those batteries are infinitely harder to recycle and are not repairable. They are replaced as a single unit, whereas ours can be serviced so that means that cost of repair is pitched against cost of replacement. You can extend the life if you can replace individual components inside it, and also, at the end of life, you can take individual pieces out of it, keep the shell, do all of those sorts of things. That's if you don't choose to turn it into an electricity storage component or something.”While Maynard didn’t mention any other brands by name, it could be seen as a swipe at Chinese giant BYD, which refers to its battery system as ‘Blade’.

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