Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath on life after Volvo and weathering the EV slowdown

Today, I’m talking with Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, whom I first interviewed on the show back in 2021. Those were heady days — especially for upstart EV companies like Polestar, which all seemed poised to capture what felt like infinite demand for electric cars. Now, in 2024, the market looks a lot different, and so does Polestar, which is no longer majority-owned by Volvo. Instead, Volvo is now a more independent sister company, and both Volvo and Polestar fall under Chinese parent company Geely.

You know I love a structure shuffle, so Thomas and I really got into it: what does it mean for Volvo to have stepped back, and how much can Polestar take from Geely’s various platforms while still remaining distinct from the other brands in the portfolio? We also talked about the upcoming Polestar 3 SUV and Polestar 4 crossover, and I asked Thomas what he thinks of the Cybertruck.

Links:

Can Polestar design a new kind of car company? — Decoder

The Polestar 3 isn’t out yet, and it’s already getting a big price cut — The Verge

The Polestar 4 gets an official price ahead of its debut — The Verge

Polestar makes the rear window obsolete with its new crossover coupe — The Verge

Volvo and Polestar drift a little farther apart — The Verge

Polestar gets a nearly $1 billion lifeline — The Verge

Car-tech breakup fever is heating up — The Verge

Polestar is working on its own smartphone to sync with its EVs — The Verge

Polestar’s electric future looks high-performing, and promising — The Verge

Electric car maker Polestar to cut around 450 jobs globally — Reuters

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23912151

Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices