Polestar announces German dealer partner as deliveries begin
03 August 2020
3 August 2020
Polestar, the electric-vehicle (EV) brand, will open its first showroom in Germany later this month and it has delivered its first Polestar 2 model to customers.
The carmaker will open its first ′showroom’ in Germany on 20 August in DÜsseldorf, with car dealership group Adelbert Moll GmbH & CO KG investing in the brand, according to Automobilwoche. Polestar says it has chosen seven partners thus far, but further expansion could not be ruled out.
′The Moll Group was our partner of choice, and we are happy to have them with us at the start,’ Polestar Germany boss Alexander Lutz told the publication. ′Our new partners have recognised that Polestar has a top image right from the start. That’s why it wasn’t difficult to get seven outstanding car dealerships interested in our brand.’
Polestar will open a total of seven locations in Germany in the next few months; after DÜsseldorf will come Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich and Frankfurt/Main. The lack of a representative office in large parts of eastern Germany is still a shortcoming, admitted Lutz. ′However, with these seven locations, we are now present in exactly those regions where electric mobility is most popular.
′We know how important local and regional investors are. They know the local market and have access to the right customers,’ he concluded.
First deliveries
Polestar is committed to its digital-first retail model, and it is likely that the dealership network it intends to build across Europe will focus less on sales and more on providing test drives, deliveries and aftercare. However, the announcement of a partnership with an established group in one of the largest European markets allows the carmaker to evaluate its opportunities both online and physically.
The company recently announced that it had delivered the first European Polestar 2 customer car at the company’s global headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Thunder-coloured fastback is specified with a Charcoal WeaveTech vegan interior.
′I ordered my Polestar 2 on launch day,’ says Sture Stensson upon receiving his car. ′This is my first electric vehicle, and I have mounted solar panels on the roof for easy charging at home. I have read all the great reviews in the papers and online and picked up many new cars throughout the years, but this is the greatest moment so far.’
The first Swedish customers are joined by customers in China and the first Norwegian customers in the first week of August, after which customers in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK will begin to receive their cars. Deliveries in Switzerland and North America will follow, the carmaker said.
For the German market, there are already firm customer orders ′in the four-digit range,’ Lutz told Automobilwoche. ′These cars were ordered even though they could not yet be driven and could not yet be seen in the shops.’
Lutz did not comment on his sales expectations. ′The demand is greater than we initially thought. In Norway and the Netherlands, this year’s contingent of the Polestar 2 is already sold out, here in Germany we are close to it.’