Sales and deliveries are up for Polestar. The EV maker posted a total revenue of 2.5 billion dollars in 2022 and delivered a total of 51,491 vehicles last year – an increase of 84 and 80 per cent, respectively.
Polestar was undoubtedly happy to announce these figures. Revenue was up more than one billion dollars compared to the 2021 financial results. According to the carmaker, the plus was mainly driven by higher Polestar 2 vehicle sales, as the company continued to expand across markets. The carmaker now has 158 locations in 27 countries, compared to 103 locations in 19 countries at the end of 2021.
“We left 2022 having exceeded our 50,000 delivery target, grown revenue over 80 per cent and with strengthened liquidity,” says Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath. “Our business will continue to gain momentum through the year as we start producing Polestar 3 – and with Polestar 4 in the starting blocks.”
In January, the company reported that it had exceeded its delivery target for 2022, delivering 51,500 EVs last year. Some 21,000 of those were handed over to customers in the fourth quarter of last year. However, because of supply chain issues and the covid lockdown in China, Polestar reduced its sales predictions for 2022 in May from initially 65,000 to 50,000 units.
For this year, Polestar hopes to sell about 80,000 cars – roughly 60 per cent more than in 2022. Sales will be driven by the Polestar 2, but the Polestar 3 will also launch this year – at least in some markets. It will initially be produced at Volvo’s plant in Chengdu, China, starting mid-2023 so that deliveries will hit in Q4/2023. From 2024, production will follow at Volvo’s Ridgeville plant in the US state of South Carolina. Polestar expects the first deliveries from this plant around mid-2024 and, from then, will supply Polestar 3 vehicles to North America and “other markets” from the US plant.
Research and Development expenses decreased by 27 per cent year on year. Polestar says that is partly due to the absence of Polestar 1 amortisation. Though the decrease was offset by the investment in new technologies and vehicles. The carmaker is giving its Polestar 2 a makeover for the new model year, for example. This includes new engines and more powerful batteries.
However, operating loss is also up by 29 per cent. That means, it did not grow quite as significantly as it did in 2021, but still puts the carmaker in the red. On the other hand, adjusted operating loss was down 8 per cent year on year.
Keyword: Looking good: Polestar posts financial results for 2022