Suggestions that liquidators are circling electric-car brand Polestar after an $AU1.8 billion loss and "significant doubt" around its future are not true, its CEO says.
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Electric-car specialist Polestar claims its finances are headed "in the right direction" despite recently recording a near-$US1.2 billion ($AU1.8 billion) net loss, a figure it says is a "one-time impact" of US tariffs.
The Chinese-owned, Volvo-affiliated brand has long struggled to turn a profit, repeatedly calling on more external funding as it works to expand its model range while contending with slower-than-expected sales.
Its latest financial report lists a net loss of $US1.193 billion ($AU1.8 billion) for the first half of this year – up 119 per cent in 12 months, including $AU1.56 billion from April to June – alongside a warning that claims "significant doubt upon Polestar’s ability to continue as a going concern".
Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller instead pointed to growth in revenue and new-vehicle sales to refute headlines claiming it is on the brink of collapse.
"There was a lot of very good financial news in the [first half] H1 results," he told Australian media at the 2025 Munich motor show.
"Volume was up 51 per cent, revenue was up 56 per cent. For the first time in the history of Polestar, we achieved a positive operating gross margin.
"Costs are coming down, and EBIT [a measure of profitability] losses are also reducing, so all operational indicators show [we are headed] in the right direction, we do the right things."
Polestar's financial results attribute much of the hefty loss to an 'impairment' of the Polestar 3's profitability, due to "increases in production costs", "increased tariffs" on imported parts for US-made cars, and "less favourable macroeconomic and market conditions than originally anticipated".
Financial speak for the vehicle not making as much money as it used to, the 'impairment' is estimated to have cost the company $739.3 million in its cost of sales result.
Lohscheller assured reporters there is no expectation the loss will be repeated.
"The truth is, we had to impair the Polestar 3, very much driven by the US situation. That's obviously a one-time impact we had to book, and that's why you get then the headlines, 'hey the losses are big'.
"But I think if you split the story in two pieces, operational performance is good, we're do[ing] the right things, and that's the encouraging piece, right?
"[If] we continue to exercise like this, and therefore I think there's good momentum also on the financial side."
Asked directly to clarify Polestar is a "going concern" – accounting language for a financially-stable business expected to remain in operation – the CEO said: "We have a clear going concern, and we have support; we also filed like this in the H1 results."
The brand's latest financial results use this language, among other purposes, to describe "a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt upon Polestar's ability to continue" based on "uncertainty related to the execution of management's liquidity and funding plan".
Polestar head of corporate public relations, Theo Kjellberg, said the section containing this statement has been in its financial reports for "the last three, four years" and is not new.
"It's a requirement as part of our US listing that if you, as a business, are not generating the cash that you need in order to sustain [yourself] based on your current business plan, then you have to have that statement.
"So that's not a statement that came in this last report; that's been there for several years."
Polestar's financials list EBITDA – a common measure of business profitability – of $US302 million ($AU457 million) in the red for the first half of 2025, a 30.3 per cent lower loss than a year earlier, backed by $US2.3 billion ($AU3.5 billion) in loan facilities currently in place.
However, it has reported $US5.2 billion in debts payable in the next financial year (current liabilities), far outstripping the $US2.2 billion in cash it currently has, or expects to generate in the next year.
Vehicle sales in the first half of the year tallied 30,289, up 51.1 per cent – but for the US market, only the Polestar 3 is made locally, and even it is hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs on the imported parts that go into the vehicle.
Lohscheller said a variety of factories used by Polestar – Volvo sites in the US and soon Slovakia, a Renault/Geely site in South Korea, and the Chinese plants supplying Australia – give it flexibility.
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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
