The first fully electric Polestar model has been, at least for now, discontinued for the US. In an interview with Polestar representatives, we learned that the 2026 Polestar 2 will not be available to order. The Chinese-built car faced enormous tariffs set by both the Biden and Trump administrations, and so it makes sense that it would be dropped. The company is still figuring out how to manage tariffs, but it does have some things in its favor.
Polestar
In 1996, a Swedish motorsport team called Flash Engineering was competing in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championships; this team was sold on and rebranded as Polestar Racing in 2005, and later ran a production car tuning division. In 2015, Volvo Cars acquired the Polestar brand and repositioned it as an electric car maker in 2017. Polestar produces EVs like the Polestar 2 sedan and Polestar 3 SUV that have some design cues from Volvo’s premium cars, but with more of a performance focus.
- Founded
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2017
- Headquarters
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Torslanda, Sweden
- Owned By
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Volvo Cars
- Current CEO
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Michael Lohscheller
It’s Not Gone Yet
While Polestar won’t be importing any other Polestar 2s, that doesn’t mean you can’t get any. In a statement, Polestar said that “there are a number of new and certified pre-owned Polestar 2s in stock still available.” Basically, the Polestar 2 is still available as long as supplies last. In fact, if you go to Polestar’s consumer website, you’ll still find the 2 listed among the models, though only with a link to find pre-owned inventory.
We asked the Polestar representatives if the company has any plans to shift some production of the Polestar 2 to another factory to avoid the especially high tariffs on Chinese-built cars. They didn’t have anything to share, saying that those decisions are a little too far down the road to talk about. Being the only model in the Polestar range for multiple years, the car has been pivotal, and Polestar says that it has built more than 175,000 of them since launch. But the brand is launching other models, such as the recently released Polestar 3, which will surely help make up for sales of the 2. Additionally, Polestar has stated it intends to replace the 2 with the 7, another compact SUV. It could make sense for Polestar to just let the 2 go away now in the US until the 7 comes out.
Related
Polestar’s Sales Surge In 2025
Much credit goes to the Polestar 3.
Some Potential Tariff Resilience
We also asked the Polestar representatives if they could say much about the company’s plans to handle new tariffs coming from the Trump administration. They didn’t have much of anything to say, likely still feeling out what tariffs will stick and how much they may increase or decrease. The company does have some potential resilience to tariffs with the Polestar 3. The SUV is built in Ridgeville, South Carolina, so at least the finished examples won’t be hit with a tariff when sold in the US. The model seems to already be selling well, too, based on record numbers for the brand. This is partly why we believe it will probably mostly make up for lost Polestar 2 sales.
It will soon be joined by the Polestar 4 and 5, too, fleshing out the line-up. The Polestar 4 will be built in South Korea, so it won’t suffer from tariffs on Chinese cars, but could still be affected by other imported car tariffs.
#Polestar #Longer #Orders
