Dugo.
Photographed at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2023.
Layoffs and salary cuts, optimization and adjustment, cost reduction and efficiency improvement seem to be the high-frequency words in the domestic auto circle in the past two years, and now this "trend" has invaded Northern Europe, involving about 450 employees at Polestar Motors.
Recently, Swedish electric car manufacturer Polestar announced that it plans to lay off about 450 people worldwide, accounting for about 15% of the total number of employees. According to the company's statement,The layoff plan is designed to accelerate margin improvement and reduce the company's total capital requirements to achieve its goal of breaking even on cash flow.
Looking at the financial data, the situation at Polestar is really worrying. Although revenue increased by nearly 25% year-on-year to 18. in the first three quarters of last year$4.4 billion, but the operating loss is still as high as 7$3.5 billion. At the same time, gross profit was only US$21.2 million, down about 63% from US$57.5 million in the same period in 2022.
In terms of sales, Polestar set a target of 80,000 units at the beginning of 2023 and lowered it to 60,000 units in November, but in the end the global delivery volume for the whole of 2023 was only 5460,000 units, the target was not reached.
In addition,Although the Polestar aspect will2023 is known as the "first year of China" for the brand, but it has always been a little "unsuitable" in the Chinese market. In 2021, Polestar sold 2,048 new cars in China, accounting for only 7% of global sales. In 2022 and 2023, the official has not announced the specific sales volume in China, but from the data of compulsory traffic insurance, it can be seen that the number of vehicles on the insurance is only 1,717 and 992 respectively. Compared to other electric car brands, it is quite bleak.
Polestar, which is already a big step behind, will there be a chance to get rid of the fate of being marginalized by strengthening its local layout in 2024, which is extremely involuted?
Profitability is subject to scrutiny
According to the data, Polestar was born in October 2017, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and listed on the NASDAQ in June 2022. Although it is generally not loud in the automobile market, it was still expected at the beginning of its "debut", and was even named the "Tesla Challenger".
In April 2019, Polestar's first all-electric model, the Polestar 2, was launched, with two models, the Polestar 2 and the Polestar 2, priced at 29 respectively80,000 yuan and 460,000 yuan. The Polestar 2 was positioned as a mid-size luxury high-performance electric coupe, and the Tesla Model 3 was officially regarded as a direct competitor at the time.
But it is clear that the end of the competition with Tesla is a "fiasco". According to official figures, Polestar's global sales in 2020 are 1020,000 units, compared to 2 in 202190,000 units, about 5 in 2022150,000 units. In the past three years, Tesla's global deliveries have reached 49960,000 units, 93620,000 and 131390,000 units, strong contrast.
Even if it is not compared with Tesla, Polestar is a big step behind some new domestic forces. its last year worldwide5.The delivery volume of 460,000 units is not even half of the sales of ZEEKR, and it is only about the same as that of VOYANT.
In this case, Polestar's profitability will not be very good. According to the financial report, Polestar's revenue in the first three quarters of 2023 was 18$4.4 billion with an operating loss of $7$3.5 billion. The revenue for the third quarter was 6$1.3 billion, with an operating loss of $2$6.1 billion, compared to an operating loss of 1$9.6 billion further expanded.
In terms of gross profit, in the first three quarters of 2023, Polestar's gross profit was $21.2 million, down about 63% from $57.5 million in the same period in 2022. Gross profit for the third quarter was $3.6 million, down from $4.1 million in the same period in 2022.
Therefore, it is not surprising that layoffs and costs are reduced. In mid-May last year, Polestar announced that it would freeze hiring and lay off 10% of its workforce globally. At the time, Polestar's chief financial officer, Johan Malmqvist, said, "Based on the current macroeconomic environment, the company is looking to control costs. ”
Polestar then launched an enhanced business plan to realign its path to profitability by prioritizing profit growth over volume. The business plan objective is to accelerate margin improvement and reduce the company's total capital requirements to achieve cash flow breakeven by 2025, achieve double-digit gross margin, and achieve annual sales volume of approximately 1550,000 to 1650,000 cars.
The recent mass layoffs should also be part of the business plan, a decision that has to be made to defend against unpredictable risks in the future. However, the largest financial group in Northern Europe, Sian Bank, is still not optimistic about Polestar's future, and recently lowered its valuation from 18 billion kroner to 0 kroner, and the bank does not believe that Polestar can be profitable by 2025.
Missing out on the Chinese market
In terms of pedigree, Polestar still has Chinese genes and is known as "the first overseas car brand made in China", but this has not allowed it to get rid of the problem of "adapting to the local environment", and it is difficult to be optimistic about the development of China, the world's largest new energy vehicle market.
According to the financial report for the first quarter of 2023, Polestar's revenue was 1$5.7 billion. Of these, the UK market accounted for 2879% of the market, the U.S. market accounted for 20%, Germany and Sweden accounted for 9% each52% and 913%, while the revenue of the Chinese market is only 765$20,000, accounting for 14%。
In terms of sales, in 2021, Polestar sold 2,048 new cars in China, accounting for only 7% of global sales. In 2022 and 2023, the official sales volume in China has not been announced. However, Sina Automobile's data based on the number of new car compulsory insurance as a statistical caliber show that the number of insurance in China in the past two years was only 1,717 and 992 respectively, accounting for a very small proportion of global sales.
The main reason may be that Polestar cars are not well-known in China and have not been able to establish a brand image, and for most consumers, the Polestar brand is both high-end and niche.
From the ** point of view, the starting price of Polestar's cheapest model is also close to 300,000 yuan, and at the same price, whether Volkswagen prefers to choose a more well-known electric car brand or Polestar, the answer is self-evident.
During the Shanghai Auto Show last year, Feng Dan, the "head" of Polestar China, also admitted in an interview that Polestar has neither volume nor brand in the Chinese market, which is an objective situation, some detours that Polestar has taken, and some tuition fees paid by Polestar.
If you dig deeper, there are many reasons why the brand has not been able to do itIncluding the lack of a suitable product series, a perfect service system, a marketing strategy out of the circle, a wide range of channel construction, etc.
First of all, in terms of products, Polestar not only has few "procrastination". Among the models currently on offer, the Polestar 1 is a hybrid GT coupe that can't handle the heavy lift. The Polestar 3, a mid-to-large electric SUV, was only officially unveiled in March last year, with a price of 69Starting from 80,000 yuan, it is difficult to capture the hearts of the public.
Delayed production and delivery seem to be a major feature of Polestar. The Polestar 1 was unveiled in 2017, but it was not delivered in China until March 2020, more than half a year later than originally scheduled. The Polestar 2, which is benchmarked against Tesla's Model 3, was launched in April 2019 and deliveries only began in July 2020.
The official launch of the Polestar 3 in October 2022 was not spared, with the first deliveries scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of last year, but due to the further software development and testing required by Volvo Car AG for the all-electric platform, production deliveries of the Polestar 3 are still awaited.
Secondly, in terms of marketing and channel expansion, Polestar is also quite Buddhist. It's probably because of the "high cold wind", and it's rare to see its stores, and it's hard to think of any marketing events that Polestar can remember over the years.
Make up for local shortcomings
The inability to build a brand is also related to the frequent "change of leadership" of Polestar cars. According to the data, Polestar cars have been replaced since its inception5 "helmsmen" in China, which aggravates the difficulty of implementing the brand strategy.
The first head of Polestar China was Shen Feng, a former Volvo executive, but he soon left to join NIO. After that, Wu Zhenhao, Vice President of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, took over as President of Polestar China.
However, in March 2020, Wu Zhenhao was transferred to Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, and the position of "number one" of Polestar China was taken over by Gao Hong, who was the senior director of sales planning for Volkswagen Group (China) and was an outsider.
The outsider also failed to make Polestar a big presence in China, and just one year later Nathan Forshaw was appointed President of Polestar China and Asia Pacific, with full responsibility for Polestar China and Asia Pacific from 1 April 2021.
Then, in August 2022, Feng Dan, the former national sales director and head of the business unit of the Cadillac brand, took over from Nathan Forshaw and took on the responsibility of Polestar's development in China. With Feng Dan taking over, it's clear that Polestar is paying more attention to the Chinese market.
For example, in April last year, Polestar announced that it would move its new headquarters in China to Shanghai, aiming to start a new chapter in China. In the same month, Polestar unveiled the world premiere of the new Polestar 4 at the Shanghai Motor Show. During the period, Feng Dan said that 2023 is the "first year of China" for Polestar, because from 2023, Polestar will have new cars on the market, and it will also be developing and preparing for a new car per year. Around this plan, Polestar is accelerating the implementation of the entire marketing network, after-sales service, etc.
In June last year, Polestar signed a strategic joint venture with Meizu Group, a technology company, to establish a strategic joint venture "Polestar Technology", with the aim of integrating the respective advantages of Polestar and Meizu to help Polestar continue to develop in China's new energy market. At the beginning of January this year, Chen Siying, Senior Vice President of Meizu Group and President of the Automotive Business Division, joined Polestar Technology as Chief Operating Officer, taking full responsibility for Polestar Technology's marketing segment.
All these actions show that Polestar is making up for the shortcomings of the Chinese market. Shen Ziyu, Chairman and CEO of Polestar Technologies, said bluntly at the Star-Picking Night event in November last year: "Only by winning the Chinese market can we become the leader of the global new energy vehicle field." ”
Right now,The Polestar 4 has already started mass deliveries nationwide, which is a new hope for Polestar cars in terms of volume. For this reason, Polestar even put down its "cold" figure and made a profit in disguise.
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April last year, the Polestar 4 debuted at a guide price of 34980,000-53380,000 yuan. At the Star-Picking Night event in November, after stripping off some of the rights and configurations, its selling price became 29990,000-39990,000 yuan. This month, it was revealed that Polestar has launched a limited-time rights recommendation plan including a replacement subsidy of up to 30,000 yuan, and the starting price of Polestar 4 can reach 27990,000 yuan.
This is quite in line with what Shen Ziyu said before: "First of all, we need to solve user perception, from the product, the team to the brand, we are trying to find ways to let users know Polestar from all dimensions." ”
Polestar officially defines 2024 as the brand's "breakthrough year in China", hoping that after the launch and delivery of the Polestar 4, the brand will have the opportunity to challenge "become the top three global luxury electric car brands in China in terms of sales" in 2024.
Given Polestar's current financial situation, it will be difficult to achieve this.
Author |Baiyuan.
* |Carvisibility
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Kunpeng Project