Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar plans to discontinue production of the Polestar 3 electric SUV in China and concentrate future manufacturing at sister brand Volvo Cars' facility near Charleston, South Carolina.
Polestar manufactures its lineup in the U.S., China and Korea, with plans to expand to Europe.
Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson stated that consolidating global Polestar 3 production in the U.S. would help generate efficiencies for both companies. He added that the U.S. market would serve as a strategic production site to meet regional and export demands.
Neither company responded to Manufacturing.net when asked whether U.S. tariffs prompted the move.
Volvo’s U.S. site already makes the fully electric Volvo EX90 SUV, built on the same platform as the Polestar 3. The company has invested $1.3 billion in the South Carolina facility in the last decade, which features an annual installed production capacity of 150,000 vehicles.
Polestar also announced that Volvo agreed to turn approximately $274 million of its outstanding shareholder loan into equity. Volvo expects to convert an additional $65 million during the second quarter of this year, which would bring its ownership in Polestar to about 19.9%. Volvo extended the maturity of the remaining $661 million shareholder loan with Polestar to December 2031.
Geely Sweden Holdings AB, the European subsidiary of China's Geely Holdings Group, which owns both Volvo and Polestar, previously revealed plans to convert a $300 million credit into Polestar shares.
