This newspaper (chinatimesnet.CN) reporter Yu Jianping and trainee reporter Wen Chong report from Beijing.
Recently, Volvo Cars announced that it plans to take 62% of its 48% stake in Polestar7% of the equity is allocated to Geely Holdings, with a value of about 9.5 billion Swedish kronor (about 66.5 billion yuan).300 million yuan).
If the proposal is approved at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Volvo's shareholding in Polestar will be reduced to 18% after the proposed distribution is completed. At present, Geely Holding*** has expressed its support for the distribution. If the shareholding adjustment is completed, Geely Sweden Holdings, a subsidiary of Geely Holding Group, will become a significant shareholder of Polestar Auto.
Volvo Cars confirmed that it will not provide funds to Polestar in the future, and Geely will take over the baton to provide operational and financial support to Polestar in the future, expanding synergies in basic technology, ** chain, manufacturing and other aspects.
Blood transfusions were stopped, and Volvo no longer provided financial support to Polestar in the future
In 2017, Volvo Cars proposed a comprehensive electrification transformation, and then in October of the same year, Polestar announced its independence and became a high-performance electric vehicle brand jointly owned by Volvo Cars and Geely. In June 2022, Polestar was listed on the NASDAQ** exchange in New York.
It can be seen that the independence of Polestar means that Volvo Cars wants to lay out the chess in the new energy vehicle market. However, less than two years after going public, Polestar has gone from a $10 issue price to $1 on February 27$49, the market value has shrunk by more than 80%. At the same time, Polestar is facing persistent losses and sales growth that is not meeting expectations.
On the financial front, in the first three quarters of 2023, Polestar has lost 73.5 billion US dollars (about 52 yuan.)900 million); In terms of sales, although in 2023 Polestar will deliver about 550,000 units, up 6% year-on-year, but still not meeting its 2023 sales target, even though the sales target has been lowered from 80,000 to 60,000-70,000 units.
What's more, Polestar not only failed to become the ace of Volvo Cars' electrification transformation, but also had to rely on Volvo Cars and Geely to "transfuse" it. For example, on November 8 last year, Polestar announced that it had received a total of $200 million in convertible loans from its shareholder Volvo Cars; At the same time, Geely Sweden is providing a sum of 2$500 million in term loans, totaling $4$500 million.
Analysts have been critical of Volvo Cars' involvement in the development of Polestar and its continuous blood transfusions, believing that participation in the development of Polestar consumes Volvo Cars' resources and slows down Volvo's own development to a certain extent. Therefore, this ** share is also interpreted by the industry as Volvo Cars to get rid of blood transfusion and get rid of drag.
In this regard, Polestar told the China Times: "This question depends on Volvo Cars. However, as their press release says, Volvo Cars is entering the next phase of its transformation and is focused on its own transformation. ”
According to the plan, Volvo Cars aims to achieve full electrification by 2025, when the proportion of pure electric models will reach 50%, and the rest will be hybrid models. In 2030, it will become a pure electric luxury car company, and all new Volvo cars will be pure electric vehicles by then. Volvo Cars will continue to accelerate its electrification transformation in line with its strategic plan.
In fact, back on February 1, Volvo Cars said it would stop funding Polestar. The release of this news also caused Volvo's stock price to rise by 30%. At the time, Volvo Cars' president and chief executive, Jim Royan, said it was a "natural evolution" of the relationship between the two automakers: "Now is the right time for Volvo Cars to start taking a stake in Polestar and making Polestar look for funding outside of Volvo, which allows Volvo to focus entirely on its own journey, especially with some of the technology investments that will need to be made in the next two or three years." ”
For this **, Volvo said that in the future, the operational cooperation with Polestar in R&D, manufacturing, after-sales and commercial will continue. "Given our significant operational and financial relationship with Polestar, it is logical that we retain Volvo Cars' influence by holding a smaller stake of 18% in Polestar. ”
It is reported that the equity distribution agreement was carried out after the evaluation was notified on February 1, and Volvo will be carried out through a 2:1 share split, followed by an automatic share redemption process. Subsequently, Volvo Cars confirmed that it will no longer provide financial support to Polestar.
Beginning the "Year of Breakthrough in China", Polestar accelerated its entry into the domestic electric vehicle track
Volvo Cars**, Polestar will be succeeded by Geely in the future, which will continue to provide financial and operational support to Polestar. Commenting on this change, Polestar told the China Times, "This will benefit us a lot, as it clarifies our ownership structure and position in the Geely ecosystem." Geely will provide us with comprehensive operational, technical and financial support, which reflects Volvo's continued trust in us. "And this will also help Polestar to localize in the Chinese market.
In fact, 2024 is the year of Polestar's "breakthrough in China", with the goal of hitting the top three global luxury electric brands in the Chinese market. Polestar said that while maintaining a deep partnership with Volvo Cars, Polestar will continue to strengthen its ties with Geely in terms of engineering research and development, forward-looking technology and finance.
Tian Li, an analyst in the automotive industry, told the China Times that Polestar has been focusing on overseas before, and now it has begun to consciously use Geely's resources to make up for its lack in the Chinese market. The partnership with Meizu is an important signal that it is realigning its strategic focus back on the Chinese market and being included in Geely's territory.
According to the data, in June 2023, Polestar signed a contract with the "Geely" technology company Xingji Meizu Group to establish a strategic joint venture "Polestar Technology" to fully take over Polestar's business in the Chinese market. Among them, Polestar owns 49% of the shares, and Meizu holds 51% of the shares.
At last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, Shen Ziyu, chairman and CEO of Polestar Technology, set the tone, "Only by winning the Chinese market can we become the leader in the global new energy vehicle field." Polestar combines the advantages of world-class resources and the forward-looking layout of localized intelligence, and has entered the high-end pure electric track, and has entered the process of vehicle electrification in China and even the world. ”
Polestar also told the China Times: "We have already cooperated with many other entities under Geely, including our joint venture partner Meizu in China, which has already made a lot of gains for our business in China, especially the jointly developed Polestar OS system and Polestar Phone." ”
As an independent brand in the Geely ecosystem, the two parties already have a very close cooperation. Polestar 4 is a good example of this. Polestar told the China Times. It is reported that the Polestar 4 has been delivered nationwide in January this year, this car is developed for China, based on Geely's SEA vast platform, and equipped with the Meizu Polestar OS intelligent cockpit system.
On 27 February, Polestar announced the start of production of the Polestar 3 in Chengdu, China, marking the imminent arrival of the ultra-luxury electric SUV. Meanwhile, the South Carolina plant in the United States has completed its first production tests and will start production in mid-2024, with the Polestar 3 being the first Polestar model to land on both continents.
While accelerating product launches, Polestar is also accelerating the deployment of domestic channel construction and energy replenishment services. So far, Polestar has built 55 Polestar spaces across the country, and plans to increase to 120 by the end of 2024, including three types of Polestar brand center stores, brand space stores, and brand experience centers. In terms of energy replenishment, Polestar plans to complete 60 self-built charging piles and connect 550,000 charging pile resources in the first quarter, covering 331 prefecture-level cities, with a city coverage rate of 98%.
In addition, paying more attention to the development of the Chinese market does not mean that Polestar has to abandon the global market. "In the coming months, Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 will see their first deliveries in other markets around the world. The goal of these two SUVs is to enter the fastest-growing and most attractive segment of the automotive industry. Polestar revealed to the China Times.
On February 28, Polestar announced that it had won the 9US$500 million in external financing, a three-year loan from 12 banks, including BNP Paribas, Natixis, Standard Chartered, BBVA, HSBC and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, to support the next phase of Polestar's growth plans. Li Donghui, CEO of Geely Holding Group and member of the board of directors of Polestar, said that as a strategic partner and important shareholder of Polestar, Geely Holding will continue to provide comprehensive operational and financial support for the brand. "We will hold a stake in Polestar for the long term and participate in Polestar's future financing plans in due course. ”
Editor-in-charge: Li Yanan Editor-in-chief: Yu Jianping.