Polestar named Michael Lohschelle as its new CEO
Michael Lohscheller’s resume contains Opel, Vinfast, and Nikola
Volvo spun off Polestar
Polestar has appointed Michael Lohscheller as its new CEO, changing Thomas Ingenlath, who has led the EV model because it was spun off from Volvo, following the latter’s resignation.
The change takes impact Oct. 1, 2024, in line with Polestar. Lohscheller beforehand served as CEO of Opel, Vinfast, and Nikola, leaving the latter firm in September 2023. On the time of publication, his LinkedIn profile listed him as head of the Worldwide Motor Car Producers commerce group.
2025 Polestar 3 manufacturing at Volvo plant close to Charleston, South Carolina – Aug. 2024
“Polestar has already established itself as one of the fascinating and revolutionary manufacturers within the electrical automobile area,” Lohscheller mentioned in a press release. “I sit up for working with the proficient staff to construct on this robust basis and speed up our improvement.”
Polestar started as a racing staff intently aligned with Volvo, evolving right into a efficiency sub-brand for the automaker earlier than turning into a standalone model in 2017 on the route of Volvo mum or dad Geely. Gross sales started in 2019 with the limited-edition Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid coupe, adopted by the all-electric Polestar 2 in 2020. The Polestar 2 has been the model’s solely mannequin since its launch, nevertheless it’s attributable to be joined by the Polestar 3 electrical SUV, which began manufacturing for the U.S. in South Carolina earlier this month.
Polestar 5 prototype journey
The Polestar 4, a extra coupe-like SUV is scheduled to reach within the U.S. subsequent 12 months, with manufacturing for this market being dealt with by a Renault manufacturing facility in South Korea to keep away from the political issues of the principle Chinese language manufacturing web site. The Polestar 5 fastback can be slated to start out manufacturing subsequent 12 months, adopted by the Polestar 6 roadster in 2026. The model can be testing prototype battery cells it claims can do a 10-80% cost in simply 10 minutes.
Nevertheless, Volvo earlier this 12 months introduced that it might cease funding Polestar, whereas retaining about 18% of Polestar shares, giving Geely better management of the model. Polestar missed already-reduced 2023 supply targets and its share costs have nosedived since going public in 2022 through a merger with a particular function acquisition firm (SPAC).