Geely-owned Polestar’s second quarter retail sales dropped 4% year-on-year, coming just days after the Geely-backed EV maker confirmed it would be excluded from the US market starting with the 2027 model year.
The company delivered an estimated 17,296 vehicles in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 18,026 units in the same period last year.
With US figures stripped out, quarterly retail sales declined 3.9% to 16,175 cars, down from 16,818.
Looking at the first six months of 2026, Polestar’s overall retail sales edged up 0.4% to reach 30,423 vehicles, against 30,289 units in the first half of 2025 – a figure the company described as a “record”.
Excluding the US market, first-half sales climbed 3.1% to 28,562 cars.
Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller said: “Delivering record sales in the first half of the year, despite regulatory and market headwinds, is a significant achievement.
“We continue to make progress across the business, delivering strong growth in several key markets, especially in the UK, Germany, South Korea and the Iberia region.”
Going forward, Polestar said it will report retail sales figures separately with US numbers excluded, a shift that follows the recent ruling by US authorities under the Connected Vehicle Rule.
The automaker announced in late June that it would cease vehicle sales in the US from 2027 onwards, after the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), part of the US Department of Commerce, declined to approve its application under the rule.
The Connected Vehicle Rule is a national security measure that prohibits the import and sale of connected vehicles along with associated software and hardware linked to foreign adversary nations, spanning technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular connectivity and certain satellite communication systems.
US officials have pointed to concerns about data collection from American vehicle owners as justification for the rule, which is aimed at vehicles with ties to China.
Introduced in January 2025 under then-President Joe Biden, the regulation has continued to apply under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Polestar said it intends to keep selling its existing US inventory of the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 models.
“Polestar sales dip 4% in Q2” was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand.
