8:22 am, February 19, 2026
Polestar boss Michael Lohscheller has praised the ‘renaissance of the dealers’ as the Swedish brand prepares to launch its biggest product offensive to date.
Car Dealer reported yesterday that the EV outfit is planning to launch four new cars in the next three years as part of an ambitious growth plan between now and 2028.
Speaking at Polestar’s Gothenburg headquarters to Electrifying.com, Lohscheller doubled down on the brand’s commitment to physical retail, as it continues to move away from the direct-to-consumer model favoured by some EV rivals.
He said: ‘We have gone away from showing to active selling.
‘Not direct-to-consumer hope, that we display cars and people go home and purchase them at home.
‘Visit your local dealer, you trust him or her, you test drive the car, you come back next weekend, and then you purchase. This is a key of success. I call it the renaissance of the dealers.’
The comments come as Polestar confirms the largest model expansion in its history, including a next-generation Polestar 2, a more practical estate-style variant of the Polestar 4 – to be sold along the current car which will be renamed the Polestar 4 Coupe – along with the halo Polestar 5GT.
Completing the lineup is the forthcoming compact Polestar 7 SUV, arguably the most strategically important launch of the lot. Compact SUVs made up around a third of all BEV volumes in Europe in 2025, and this is where Polestar has its biggest chance to scale beyond niche premium territory.
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But Lohscheller was clear that product alone will not deliver growth – retail execution will.
The UK has become Polestar’s largest market outside Sweden after sales surged 95% in 2025 to 17,000 units. Britain now accounts for 29% of global volume, and Lohscheller says the UK retail approach is the blueprint for future expansion.
‘The UK for me is our role model,’ he said. ‘When I travel to Germany, I say, we need to learn from the Brits.’
Polestar currently operates around 15 UK retail sites and plans to increase that modestly to between 18 and 20.
‘Limited number but really high performing ones is the recipe for success,’ he said. ‘We don’t go to 60. Otherwise your network gets too big and the throughput is not in the right way.’
Many of the UK sites operate in partnership with established Volvo retailers, giving Polestar access to experienced sales and service infrastructure.
Crucially, Lohscheller said dealers are not concerned about brand overlap.
‘No dealer is complaining to me about cannibalisation,’ he said. ‘Volvo stands for safety and comfort. We clearly focus on design and performance. For the retailers, this is incremental business.’
He added that retailers are ‘very interested in the Polestar franchise’, describing the current model as commercially attractive for both sides.
Alongside the retail strategy, Polestar is significantly widening its potential market. Lohscheller admitted the brand is currently competing in just 25% of BEV segments.
‘As of today, we are capturing around 25% of the segments,’ he explained. ‘With the new cars, we go to 55–60% of the market.’
The most commercially important addition is expected to be the Polestar 7, a compact premium SUV built in Europe and due in 2028, targeting one of the continent’s highest-volume EV segments.
Lohscheller has also made clear that scale is essential for long-term viability, adding: ‘Below 100,000 is low for premium. Above 100,000 is better.’
Despite Geely ownership and production links to China and South Korea, Lohscheller signalled that Europe is now the priority market, describing China as ‘hyper-competitive’ and ‘not a top priority at the moment’.
With a strengthened product line-up and a retailer-led growth model, Polestar is betting that disciplined network expansion – not rapid site roll-out – will drive its next phase.
And if the UK’s performance is anything to go by, Lohscheller believes the dealer renaissance may just be the brand’s most important asset.
Reporting by Ginny Buckley
