Polestar Cuts 2023 EV Sales Forecast As Deliveries Slip To 13,976 Vehicles In Q3

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Polestar has reduced its delivery forecast for the current calendar year and expects to deliver approximately 60,000 vehicles in 2023. As of May it was targeting 80,000 sales, but trimmed that down to between 60,000 and 70,000 last month.

The car manufacturer made the announcement with the release of its third-quarter financial results and added that deliveries fell slightly from Q2. In fact, Polestar delivered 13,976 vehicles in Q3 and while that is a 51% increase year on year, it is less than the 15,765 vehicles that it delivered in Q2. Polestar didn’t elaborate on why deliveries fell last quarter but it could be due to waning demand for the Polestar 2 which remains the firm’s only model reaching the hands of customers. This will soon change.

Production of the Polestar 4 will start at the company’s factory in Hangzhou Bay, China next week and the first customer deliveries have been penciled in for December. Polestar is also on track to start building the Polestar 3 in China in Q1 2024 and will start U.S. deliveries in the summer.

Read: Polestar 3 Completes Hot Weather Testing, Production Slated For Early 2024

Gross margins at the company are expected to finish 2023 at 2%, half what the company had originally expected. However, revenue did rise by 41% from Q3 2022 to $613 million while research and development costs swelled by $30 million due primarily to an increase in headcount costs for full-time employees and changes to the Polestar 5’s electrical architecture. The Swedish firm added that it has secured additional term loans from Volvo and Geely totaling $450 million and that it finished the quarter with $951 million cash on its balance sheet.

Polestar expects its deliveries to rise significantly in 2025 by which time it will be building the Polestar 2, Polestar 3, Polestar 4, and Polestar 5, and anticipates delivering between 155,000 and 165,000 vehicles that year.