| Volvo Cars revealed it is delaying the production of the EX90 and Polestar 3 EVs until H1 2024 due to its need for additional time for software development and testing. "We don't intend to push cars into the market at any price just to achieve a volume that we once announced," said Polestar's CEO Thomas Ingenlath. This is not the first software-caused production delay for an automaker this year, as bugs in Volkswagen's software subsidiary, Cariad, were reported to be a factor in Herbert Diess' ouster from VW's CEO position. Although Polestar still plans to begin production of the Polestar 4 by the end of the year, it reduced its full-year target from 80,000 units to a range between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles versus the 51,491 it delivered in 2022. The company joins Rivian, Lucid, and Fisker, which have announced revisions to their original production outlook for the year. Amid increasing competitiveness in EV prices and macroeconomic uncertainty, Polestar, not unlike other EV makers, has seen its stock decline; however, it is in a unique position as its secondary sales have been completed with its parent company and key person-associated firms.
Polestar reduced its operating loss from $257.9M in Q1 2022 to $199.4M this past quarter; however, the EV maker also experienced a decrease in cash and cash equivalents by $89.6M to $884.3M during the same time period. This was, however, boosted in November by $1.6B in financing from Geely-owned Volvo Cars and PSD Investment, which is controlled by Geely-owner Li Shufu. Thus, Polestar is in a position where the opex would need to be adjusted according to the output.
Polestar also announced it would reduce its headcount by 10%, which per LinkedIn numbers would be approximately 300 people. The company is also instituting a hiring freeze as it seeks to "improve margins and price stability with [our] products." The automaker, however, believes it will be able to launch its sales and service networks in 30 countries by the end of 2024. |
