Polestar Automotive Holding UK Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 12, 2025

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Pulsar Q1 twenty twenty five Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 11 on your telephone.

Operator

You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone. I'm Anna Gavrilova, Head of Investor Relations at Polestar. Thank you for joining this call covering the first quarter twenty twenty five Select financial results for Polestar. I am joined by Michael Lochschaller, CEO and Jean Francois Madie, CFO, who will give the operational and financial update and then we will open the floor to analyst questions.

Speaker 1

Before we start, I would like to remind participants that many of our comments today will be considered forward looking statements under The U. S. Federal securities laws and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause Polestar's actual results to differ materially from what has been communicated. These forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future financial performance of the company, production and delivery volumes, financial and operating results, near term outlook and medium term targets, fundraising and funding requirements, macroeconomic and industry trends, company initiatives and other future events. Forward looking statements made today are effective only as of today and Polestar undertakes no obligation to update any of its forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

For a discussion of some of the factors that could cause our actual results to differ, please review the risk factors contained in our SEC filings. In addition, management may make references to non GAAP financial measures during the call. A discussion of why we use non GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found in the appendix to the press release and in the Form six ks published today. I will now hand over to Michael.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Anna, and to everyone for joining us today. In January, we announced our plan for Polestar with ambitious growth targets and clear milestone. The first important milestone for us as a new leadership team is our Q1 volumes and financial results. And I'm pleased to say our Polestar plan is off to a strong start. We are delivering, both from a commercial and financial point of view.

Speaker 2

After reporting 76% increases in retail sales for the first quarter compared to last year, we are also improving our financial performance, with revenue growth of 84% driven by sales of POLTAZ three and POLTAZ four. Significant margin improvement with a 15 percentage point swing to a positive gross margin of 7% significant fixed cost reductions net loss and adjusted EBITDA improvement. Polestar is in execution mode. We are making significant changes to our commercial operations, leveraging our growing model lineup and increasing efficiencies across all areas of the business. This is what we are doing and what we remain focused on.

Speaker 2

Consistency in our actions and conviction in our decision making over the last few months have created a strong momentum, and we are making good progress. Firstly, let me talk about our commercial transformation. During the last few months, I have had the opportunity to meet with customers and retailers across all markets. What I've seen has really impressed me and reaffirmed the importance of our focus on commercial transformation, making it easier for more people to experience our cars. Because when they do, they get excited.

Speaker 2

That's why we are signing up new dealers across all markets. Our ambition is to grow our sales points by 75% until 2026. And in the first quarter of this year compared to Q1 last year, we grew these by 33%, excluding China. The renaissance of the dealer is how I've referred to this over the last few months. And for me, this is the most important step on our journey.

Speaker 2

Some people prefer to buy online, configuring their cars on our website and going through the purchasing process from home. We will continue to serve these customers. But for a large part of the market, buying a car is different from any other purchase you make. Being able to visit a dealership, have technology and features explained and financing solution described, is more conducive to increasing sales. It also has the added benefit of enabling pre owned sales.

Speaker 2

Along with our more active sales model and commercial agreements with dealers that allow them more freedom in how they sell posters, this is the foundation of our growth. Secondly, maximizing the value of our existing model lineup. We recently launched the updated model year 'twenty six Polster two. The car that we have built our expansion on to date gets a number of new technologies and features, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor chip and a Bowers and Wilkins sound systems with thirteen fifty W of power. Like all our cars, Polster two continues to benefit from over the air updates, making this car even better over time.

Speaker 2

In support of our pre owned business, we are now also providing battery state of health certificates, creating greater peace of mind for our customers. Polestar three continues to set new standards in the SUV segment, achieving a five star Euro NCAP rating. It also achieved a score of 93% of child occupant protection, the highest score of any passenger car tested by Euro NCAP over the past nine years. Sales of Polestar four continue to increase across our major markets, and its popularity is reinforced by winning several awards, including Car of the Year in South Korea. Manufacturing of our SUV coupe in Busan, South Korea is expected to start during the second half of the year, with preparations and prototype production going well.

Speaker 2

This is the latest step in developing our asset light model, which already includes sites in China and The US, with plans for European production for Polestar seven in the future. This flexibility and ability to manufacture cars as close to our customers as possible will become more and more important as geopolitical uncertainties increase. Polestar V, our four door Grand Tourer, developed by our own engineering teams and based on a bonded aluminium platform, is expected to start sales later this year. This car will set a new standard for its segment and reaffirming Polster's position as a performance car company. Thirdly, we will continue to reduce our cost base and generate efficiencies, adapting our ways of working and structures as needed.

Speaker 2

This will make us more resilient as uncertainties around the world continue to increase. For example, as future Polestar cars will be based on group architectures, we are taking steps to realize efficiencies in our R and D organization. Adjusting our structures and reducing our cost base was very much part of our focus when we presented our updated business plan in January, and these steps are becoming even more important given the current uncertainty surrounding international tariffs and government regulations. As a result of this uncertainty, we announced that we are pausing our financial guidance for 2025. We reaffirm our growth target of 30% to 35% per annum between 2025 and 2027, a clear reflection of our ambitions and underlying continued growth in the EV sector.

Speaker 2

Polestar is the only global premium EV brand with a clear focus on design, sustainability and performance. Our cars are winning more and more comparison tests against premium competitors, showing that we are here to compete with a growing network of experienced dealers. And of course, with really passionate and progressive colleagues throughout the world. I want to thank everybody for all the efforts we are taking steps to give our strong brand and our incredible cast the spotlight and recognition they deserve. And we are just getting started.

Speaker 2

We want to grow more. We are doing the right things. With that, I'll end my opening remarks and hand over to Jean Francois.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Michael. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. Before I dive into Q1 twenty twenty five Select financial results we published today, I will say a few words on the 2024 full year performance. We filed the annual report on Form 20 F on May 9, which I hope you have had a chance to look at. Michael and I joined Polestar in our respective position in October 2024.

Speaker 3

Our first priority was to review with Group Management, the company performance and strategy, and then to come up with a realistic but ambitious business plan for the next phase of Polestar future growth, which was shared in January. We are now in a new phase. Previously, the focus was on launching Polestar and building the brand. And our priority now are to reiterate what Michael laid out. First, driving significant changes to our commercial operations as the foundation for our growth.

Speaker 3

Second, leveraging our growing model lineup. And third, increasing efficiencies across all areas of the business to improve profitability. And finally, one more strand of our strategy, invisible to external audience, but very important, improving our processes. I wanted to touch briefly on profitability and processes to add to what Michael has said earlier. On profitability, after a few months now with Polestar, we clearly see significant opportunities to deliver revenue growth and importantly also improve the financial performance of Polestar.

Speaker 3

We are streamlining our operation and enhancing operating efficiencies to reduce product costs and expenses. Moreover, we are investing working capital and cash management discipline. We do so mainly by optimizing inventory level and looking for capital expenditure efficiency. At the same time, we leverage synergistic partnership. We are fortunate to have Geely Group and Volvo Cars as our long term partners.

Speaker 3

Their deep automotive expertise, technology and network of production sites are invaluable to Polestar and its asset light model. We will look to optimize these partnerships and seek further synergies in every domain. And finally on processes. We are changing the way we operate at Polestar with a culture defined by a focus on performance and results, ownership and accountability. We are implementing new and enhancing existing processes, standards and rules across all functions.

Speaker 3

We have been making progress since Michael and I came on board, but Polsar is not yet where we would like it to be. There is still some work to do, but we are on the right track and doing the right things. I will now go briefly through the income statement to highlight key points of the 2024 performance. We preannounced in January that retail sales volume declined by 15%. Consequently, revenue decreased by 14% in a challenging environment.

Speaker 3

Within the cost of sale, we incur significant impairments related to tangible and intangible assets of US622 million dollars impacting the gross loss. It reflected our expectation on future volume and pricing. On a positive note, we saw a reduction in selling, general administrative expenses due to lower advertising activity and cost of discipline, and a lower research and development cost due to higher capitalization level and a change in intellectual property cost treatment since December 2023. These savings were not sufficient. However, to compensate for the effect described earlier and consequently, we reported a higher net loss at $2,000,000,000 Adjusted EBITDA, which exclude impairments and unusual items, only declined by 6% to $1,000,000,000 loss versus the comparable period.

Speaker 3

The cash position at the end of the year was $739,000,000 and since then we have secured or renewed over $900,000,000 worth of facilities. Twentieth has been published and you're now welcome to reach out to us with any questions. Now, I would like to move on to the discussion of the key point of Q1 twenty twenty five performance. As we announced in April, we reported growth in retail volume of 76% year on year and a stable performance versus the fourth quarter twenty twenty four in what is a challenging environment for the automotive industry globally. Our revenue grew more strongly by 84%, supported by a favorable benefit from a larger portfolio of cars with higher priced Polestar three and Polestar four model that we now offer to customers.

Speaker 3

The good news is the improvement in gross margin to a positive 7%. This is an encouraging achievement. The improvement of 15 percentage points was driven predominantly by a positive mix as we sold more of the higher margin model compared to Q1 twenty twenty four when mostly we sold Polestar two. This was partially offset by more competitive pricing. Continuing cost reduction measures are starting to bear fruits.

Speaker 3

Selling, general and administrative expenses benefited from both workforce reductions made in 2024 and continuing optimized marketing spend. R and D costs also declined due to higher capitalization level. Net loss and adjusted EBITDA results have subsequently improved as higher revenue and gross profit and lower fixed cost flow through to the bottom line. Net loss of $190,000,000 decreased by $86,000,000 or 31%. Gross profit improvement, fixed cost saving and the positive foreign exchange impact within net finance expenses were partially offset by our share of the losses in the joint venture with Hubei Qingjin Mainzhu Group Co.

Speaker 3

Ltd. And lower positive fair value change of earn out rights. Adjusted EBITDA loss of $150,000,000 decreased by $97,000,000 or 46% as gross profit improvement, cost saving from headcount reduction, optimized market expense and positive FX impact contributed to a better result. We finished the first quarter with $732,000,000 of cash, nearly at the same level as at the end of twenty twenty four. In terms of funding, in February we secured up to $450,000,000 in term facilities and renewed green trade finance facility with a syndicate of global banks for €480,000,000 for working capital requirements.

Speaker 3

And finally, a few words on the current quarter. You will appreciate the environment is challenging and volatile due to known and yet unknown potential geopolitical developments. We are yet to see the impacts from confirmed tariffs on prices for cars globally and consumer demand. Also, will focus on what we can control, namely first, transform our commercial operations to lay the foundation for our future growth. Second, leverage our model lineup, continue executing cost cutting measures and preserving cash.

Speaker 3

And finally, fix processes. Notwithstanding the changing environment, we are on the right track. Now I will hand back to Michael.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Jean Francois, for running through the financials. Operator, we are ready now to start the Q and A session. We look forward to taking your questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Jon Babcock from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Good morning and thanks for taking my questions. I guess, first of all, you didn't really touch on this too much. But could you talk about the impact of the tariffs that ultimately how you're adjusting the impact on demand, recognizing it may be early, but any color you could provide on that would be useful.

Speaker 2

Sure. Thanks for your question, John. Happy to do that. So first, I think we obviously see that Q1, lots of things going in the right direction. We have around 75% of our total business in Europe.

Speaker 2

The U. S. Business is around 11% for us. And I think it's fair to say that we are relatively well positioned in The U. S.

Speaker 2

Because 100% of our volume is localized in the Volvo plant in Charleston, South Carolina. But of course, tariffs do then have an impact in terms of the different parts, right? And therefore we monitor this closely. It's also changing quite a bit. I'm sure you guys also the changes in terms of tariffs post for ninety days between China and The US.

Speaker 2

So I think localization is good. We are well positioned there with a product which gets a lot of momentum. But obviously, we have to work through the different cost elements on the pricing, and it will accelerate our need to bring costs down overall, right? But we had good momentum also in The US. We grew, I think, by 74% on the retail side.

Speaker 2

So The US is an important growth market for us. But obviously now it's about like, okay, making sure that we have optimised cost and work through the different tariffs which are out there.

Speaker 4

So at this juncture, does it make sense to revisit the supplier base and maybe find localized suppliers in The U. S. Market to compete there? Or does it perhaps make more sense to adjust like the sales footprint and focus more on other markets like say Europe or other areas of Asia, etc?

Speaker 2

Yeah, as I said, I mean, you have 75% of your volume in Europe and see strong growth, I think we did exceptionally well in The UK. Then of course, the focus of our work is on Europe, right? As you know, we go into markets like France or some more European markets to come because what we see is what we do has an immediate impact. Our brand is well established. We have now new cars which are being well received.

Speaker 2

So Europe is working well. But of course, The US is a very interesting growth market for us. With 75% growth, it's important, but obviously we will make sure that we stay very competitive from a cost point of view. And with more certainty coming, I think we will also have a better view than on the mid and long term view of The U. S.

Speaker 2

Business. But it's an important market for us.

Speaker 4

Got you. Thank you. And the next question, you did talk about the new commercial strategy and particularly using dealers. If you could just talk a bit more about how that transition is going, how far along are you and where you expect to get to by the end of the year?

Speaker 2

Yes, happy to do that, John. And it's, I think, a key point because Postal in the past had the direct distribution, which works for several people. But I'm a big believer that the dealer model is much, much better because customers want to go to the dealers, to know where the service is, want to know what's happening, also all the explanations. I think it goes extremely well. And that also explains why I think our first quarter was so good.

Speaker 2

But it's also fair to say a transition from a direct distribution model to a dealership model takes more time. And we are in the middle of this. It requires more location. Requires more salespeople from our retail partners. It also requires more digital process.

Speaker 2

So I think we are in the middle of this, and we will continue to grow the retail partners quite a bit during this year, but also next year. So we have started and more to come.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you. And then just last question. I know you talked a fair bit also about driving efficiency through the business. I was wondering if you might provide maybe some examples of where you see opportunities to improve efficiency and especially as you go through 2025, what are the areas you're going to focus on there?

Speaker 2

Yes, maybe I start and then hand it over to Jean Francois. So first of all, efficiency on the cost side, right? So while we now ramp up some of our cars really nicely, I mean, the Polestar four, I think it's fair to say is now a big success. And of course, then with the right level of volume, you can optimize this, you can bring much more efficiencies into the different product lineups. And then also on the cost side, there's more to do, but maybe Jean Francois, you give a few examples here.

Speaker 3

No, thanks Michael. Indeed on the cost side, as you know, we are still an unmatched organization, so we have to work around the organizations. So when we are speaking about organization, we are speaking also about headcount efficiencies, rightsizing. As we mentioned it during the last call, we have decreased our headcount by 25% from 2023 to the end of twenty twenty four. So we don't want to stop here.

Speaker 3

We are going to continue and to look out for more efficiencies on this matter. I would like also to speak briefly about cash optimization and to look for more efficiencies on this side because we have also to improve. We finish the year end 2024 with a quite high level of new vehicle and inventory that impacted, I will say, our cash flow and our working capital. And we have definitely to improve, I would say, the way we are managing our cash flow and that will be reflected in our working capital improvement. And to mention to you that just a situation where we had a high level of stock at the end of twenty twenty four, we are improving a lot on this aspect at the end of Q1.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Roska from Bernstein Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Good morning, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Congratulations on the breakeven on gross profit in Q1. I wonder if we may dive a little bit deeper because it looks that the vehicle mix, while pricing was a little bit better year on year kind of Q1 twenty twenty four into 2025 seems roughly stable. So I'm wondering what prompted or what were the key drivers for the reduction in the COGS per vehicle?

Speaker 6

Could you maybe split out if there was a mix component to that decrease in the COGS per car? And how much of that was battery cost relief? If I kind of backtrack the numbers you published, I kind of get to a number of about 51,000 COGS per car in Q1 twenty four and then 46 in now '25. Just any color kind of what that progression was and maybe ex tariffs, what your targets for this year would have been? Kind of how do you see that COGS per car going forward?

Speaker 3

I think to your first point, the improvement in terms of gross margin is mainly coming from, I would say, the product mix when you're comparing Q1 twenty twenty four to Q1 twenty twenty five. We have much more profitable products with PS3 and PS4 now, and that explains why we are moving from a negative gross margin to a positive gross margin. And of course it is reflected, I would say, in the cost of goods sold of those products. Moving forward and taking into account, I would say, the uncertainties that we are due to the geopolitical context and the ongoing discussion about tariffs. It's too early to say how it's going to evolve.

Speaker 3

So let's wait when those discussions will be concluded and when we are going to have much more visibility, I would say, to come back to this point, mentioning as well that this is the reason why we paused our guidance for 2025.

Speaker 6

Very clear. I'll press you on one thing on the tariffs though, to ask what is the share of non USMCA parts in your South Carolina production? So if we think about the Polestar three manufactured in South Carolina, kind of what's the share of non USMCA parts in that car?

Speaker 3

The main component is the battery.

Speaker 6

Would it be fair to compare you to other OEMs who said like there's kind of a fairly low share kind of 10% or less in the bill of materials that are sourced from elsewhere? And then there's of course the battery. I'm just wondering that with your connection and the platform also connected to Geely, whether there is a higher Chinese content in the Polestar three made in South Carolina than in other cars in The US.

Speaker 3

I don't know. I don't have any reference with the other cars in The U. S. And our competitors.

Speaker 2

Okay. Cool. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. We'll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tobias Baith from Redburn Atlantic. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Great. Good afternoon, both. I hope you're well. My first question is this. How explicit are contract manufacturing volumes in your multiyear contracts with Volvo and Geely?

Speaker 5

And does Polestar have any protection against both of these companies reallocating capacity to their own models, which is a more profitable activity for them?

Speaker 2

So, I get started. So, to put this into perspective, we have obviously various agreements in place. We talk a lot about the one in Charleston, but I want to remind everybody that this is only like the 11.3%, which we have in The US, right? More importantly is, for example, the POLTSTA-four coming out of China and then also later during the year out of Korea. This probably in terms of size and magnitude is much, much more important.

Speaker 2

And then of course, in terms of the different contract manufacturing agreements, we wouldn't disclose it at this stage. But be rest assured, like we have flexible agreements and obviously discuss it depending on what the different situation in the various markets are.

Speaker 5

Sure. Okay. But is it fair to assume that I guess there is a world where Volvo says, hey, actually I would prefer to use the capacity in South Carolina to produce more Polestar 3s or sorry, EX90s or ES90s, and therefore limit Polestar 3s volumes in that country?

Speaker 2

Yeah, but if we came to a situation where capacity was a bottleneck, then of course, we would have the dialogue and would say, look, how do we make sure we prioritize? And we would always find good solutions, right? But at the moment, we have a situation where I think it's fair to say we have sufficient capacity, especially in The US. So we actually don't have that discussion which you referred to. But of course, in case we came to that also to the other Geely factories, we will have exactly that debate.

Speaker 2

And then we find preferences, of course.

Speaker 5

Sure. All right. Thank you. How do you as a management team plan to navigate Polestar through the next few years in a world where Polestar's equity value is unfortunately temporarily impaired due to changes in global trade and a mismatched contract manufacturing footprint?

Speaker 2

Yeah, sure. Great question Tobias. And I would word it like this. I mean, of all, we look at where do we have our strengths and where is also our business model working extremely well. And while we always talk about tariffs, I think probably doesn't have any tariffs with regard to China, right?

Speaker 2

And we do exceptionally well in The UK. I mean, 28.6% of our total volume in the first quarter came from The UK, right? So a market where the tariffs are not there. So we focused a lot on our strengths and the strengths are really in Europe for sure, right? Because we see we have a good service network.

Speaker 2

We have a lot of dealers together with Volvo. Our brand, I think, has a very good awareness. It's also being recognized standing for design, sustainability and performance. So for us, Europe has absolutely the highest priority and therefore also introduction of new markets like France, also Eastern Europe, and a much better penetration also of markets like Germany. Then of course, as I said early on, The US is a growth market.

Speaker 2

But of course, we need to consider the increasing costs through tariffs and obviously make sure we find mitigation. And also it's fair to say that in some of the other markets, we can't put all the resources because Europe is a key focus. And I think focusing on where we are good at and also see immediate impacts. Therefore, I'm pleased to see that the volume was increasing so much that the margin was improving and that also the costs are coming down. And I think that's the way forward.

Speaker 2

And I think we are off to a good start.

Speaker 5

All right. Great. And then just hopefully a quick final last one from me. If you feel comfortable, may you share the amount of income that was generated from the sale of regulatory credits in the first quarter?

Speaker 3

Maybe, Michael, I will take this one. So we are not going to communicate, I will say, the CO2 credit sale in the first quarter. What I would just would like to say is we have an ongoing portfolio of CO2 credit sale. We are still confident that we will reach the three digit million dollar target in 2025.

Speaker 5

Sure. All right. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We'll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Andreas Sheppard from Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Hi, everyone. Good morning, good afternoon, and thank you for taking our questions. I just wanted to maybe follow-up again on manufacturing in South Carolina. So I think I recall in the past, the production capacity here is about 150,000. I believe Polestar's production mix will be roughly about one third.

Speaker 7

And so, are we to understand that the data is meant to kind of fulfill the demand in The US and that the priority will now be shifting more towards Europe and other markets or, is that how the potentially you expect to mitigate the tariff impact by maybe shifting strategies to European and other markets rather than The US is the production there is roughly only about 50,000? Just any color there would be helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. Thanks for the question, Andres. So happy to give some more color. So again, I think Europe, as I said, we do well. We make good progress.

Speaker 2

And in Q1, '70 '5 percent of our volume was in Europe, which is good, right? At the same time, U. S. Is a growth market. We also had a lot of momentum there.

Speaker 2

I mean, we had some really good campaigns out there and the Postal three is just being really like in the market. I think dealers see a lot of momentum. And if you're up in The US by 74%, you have momentum. I think that's fair to say. Obviously, still on a small scale, but we have the facility, we have enough capacity.

Speaker 2

Then by the end of this year, we will or in the second half of the year, we bring the POLSTAF-four, a good addition for the portfolio in The US. So we are convinced that especially also with carb state, ZEV mandates and other things, US consumers are open for zero emission mobility and we will continue to do that. But obviously, we need to be mindful steering through the different frameworks, which are changing quite a bit. And if I want to remind all of us, I mean, the tariffs from China, which is obviously then a different setup, But we're paused now for ninety days before, our understanding was it was 145% tariffs. Now for ninety days at thirty.

Speaker 2

Those are big changes. And I think we need to be mindful going through this. But there is no change of strategy. Europe is our home market. This is where we do well.

Speaker 2

And The US is an important growth market for us now and in the future.

Speaker 7

Got it. Okay, that's super helpful. I appreciate that. And maybe just as a quick follow-up. Can you just walk us through your liquidity position again?

Speaker 7

So with $732,000,000 maybe can you remind us what kind of cash burn you expect and how are you thinking about additional capital needs? Thank you.

Speaker 3

So during the last call we had, I mentioned an average cash burn of US100 million to US120 million dollars per month in 2024. This level of cash burn is not sustainable. We need to significantly decrease this level. We have a plan. We have a plan starting with, I will say, growing our top line, improving our profitability, reducing cost and expenses and improving as well our working cap and starting to look for efficiencies in terms of CapEx spending.

Speaker 3

The level of the debt so far is at $4,800,000,000 As you know, we have a debt covenant of $5,500,000,000 So it is not a situation which is satisfying. And of course, with the decrease of the cash burn during 2025, we will have to look for alternative sources of financing of which new equity. So we are working actively on this new equity story in coordination with GD. We have discussion with some potential investors, but it's too early to give you more detail, so more to come.

Speaker 7

Got it. Thank you so much. I'll pass it on.

Operator

Thank you. We'll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Dan Levy from Barclays. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Hi, thank you and good afternoon to you. Wanted to first start with a question on model mix. If you could just run us through again, what the mix of PULLSAR three and four is? And how much more you can push the mix toward three and four to at least improve the profitability and deemphasize two?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Dan for your question. I take this up and give you some color on the different product lines. Obviously, you know Polestar two basically our starting model really and also the foundation of the brand. We sold 31% of our total volume in Q1 was Polestar two. Polestar three was 19 or 20% rounded, and Polestar four was 49%.

Speaker 2

So by far the biggest portion was Polestar four. And that is an important achievement because as we all know in the industry, SUVs and larger SUVs in general in the industry have better margins than for example sedans. And that's good. And that is also one of the reasons as Francois highlighted that our margin has improved. Especially when you launch cars, it's important that you get this momentum.

Speaker 2

And I think it's fair to say that we have a lot of momentum for poster four, but also poster three. And that's encouraging to see because that is the way to go. And I think obviously now we try to explore this even better with more retailers, but I think product mix is absolutely going in the right direction. And we're happy to see with this development.

Speaker 8

Great. Thank you. And I know it's a ways out, and I think this is something that was addressed on the last call, but U. S. Ban on China connected cars starting model year 2027.

Speaker 8

I know there's a ways to go, but have there been any developments on your end on ways to work around this?

Speaker 2

Yes, absolutely. And as I said early on, The U. S. Is an important growth market for us. That's why we have many dialogues, obviously, to find good solutions for the model year '27 because it's still a bit time, but obviously preparations are happening now.

Speaker 2

And this is exactly what we are doing to make sure that we are compliant in The U. S. And can continue our growth story. So, we are very focused on making sure we comply with this new legislation.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. There appear to be no further questions at this time. So, I'll hand the call back to Michael for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thank you, operator, and thanks everybody for joining this Q1 call. Thanks for staying with us. And hopefully, we could bring across like where do we see the improvements for us a good quarter and looking forward to the continuous dialogue with all of you. I wish you a very good day.

Speaker 2

Talk to you soon. Bye bye.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.

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Polestar Automotive Holding UK Q1 2025
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