Polestar Outlines Dealer Plans In North America, Confirms Polestar 2 Will Debut Early Next Year

The Polestar 1 is inching closer to production and now the company is revealing new details about how they plan to sell and service the model.

Saying the company wants to “remove the hassle from traditional car ownership,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath laid out his plans for the North American market. The automaker is primarily focused on selling the model online, but Ingenlath acknowledged “many people want to physically see a car before ordering.”

In order to accommodate these customers, the company will have franchised Polestar Spaces (dealerships) which will be located “in a town center location.” The dealerships will employ non-commissioned sales people, known as product experts, who will be able to explain the car’s technology and plug-in hybrid powertrain.

Besides selling new models, the dealerships will service cars in need of repair. In order to streamline this process and make it more customer-friendly, dealers will pick up the car and then deliver it when the issues have been resolved. As Ingenlath explained, the “days of standing in line at service reception are over.”

Polestar didn’t reveal dealership locations or numbers, but Ingenlath said Polestar Spaces will be opened in “major US cities as demand requires them.” The company is also planning to launch Polestar North America to support and promote their vehicles on this side of the Atlantic.

While Ingenlath didn’t go into specifics, he has previously said the company aims to open 60 Polestar Spaces, around the world, by mid-2020. At the time, the company said these dealerships will share the “same minimalist and uncompromising design as Polestar’s cars, and will be curated to show elements of the company’s design language, philosophy and brand experience in a manner similar to art installations.”

Besides talking about their dealership plans, Polestar revealed their new production facility is nearing completion and is scheduled to begin building the Polestar 1 in mid-2019. The company also said first model year has already been sold out and this includes 200 cars destined for customers in North America.

Fans who can’t afford the Polestar 1 can look forward to the upcoming Polestar 2 which will be introduced early next year. The model will be an electric vehicle that is designed to compete with the Tesla Model 3. However, it won’t go into production until 2020.

Update: Car and Driver reports the first Polestar Space will open in New York City and will be followed by nine others in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas or Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The magazine also says Polestar Spaces won’t actually repair the vehicles, they’ll simply take them to Volvo dealers to have the work completed.