In light of poor market results, Volvo has decided to dismiss its 48% stake in Polestar. The market applauds the Swedish group, with a 27% rise in its share price, while punishing the “vegan first” electric mobility brand with -14%. Apparently, Polestar’s story is not yet in its final chapter. Majority shareholder Geely Group (which should now take over Volvo’s share) confirms financial and operational support for the carmaker. Volvo explains that it will no longer make financial contributions, but that at the same time certain partnerships (such as distribution) are not in question. For our part, we observe that even in the four-wheeler industry (as in food and fashion materials) vegan marketing does not go far.
In crisis since Covid
According to press reports, Polestar’s problems were exacerbated by the pandemic. The brand, founded in 1996, failed to meet its sales targets even in 2023, despite being revised downwards. As the Swedish bank SEB downgrades the stock, a blood and tears cure is being prepared to keep the business alive, which involves laying off 15% of the workforce (around 450 people). CEO Thomas Ingenlath says he is “looking forward” to discovering developments in the partnership with Volvo and synergies with Geely Group. The same Thomas who tried to sell the idea that Polestar saved animal lives because it did not fit leather in its interior.
The vegan first car
Of course, the dynamics of the car are more complex than just the choice of interior. But we note a certain similarity between Polestar’s crisis and the failure of Bolt Threads’ Mylo, not to mention the closure of so many so-called vegetable meat brands. In other words, the market reveals that certain marketing bluffs have short legs. Or rather: that on certain marketing bluffs one cannot build success stories if there is nothing else to substantiate the goodness of the enterprise. Before Covid, Polestar had spent itself on a bombastic vegan turn, then relegated to vegan first in more recent times: it has come to naught. Let’s hope that the parable will be an example to its liquidating partner, Volvo, which has become entangled in the same “leather free” bottleneck: with easy slogans you gain some attention, but you don’t win over consumers.
Archive photo from Polestar
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