Polestar's US future ends before it really began.
The US Commerce Department has denied Polestar authorization to import vehicles from model year 2027 onward, the company disclosed on June 25. The decision stems from a federal rule banning connected cars from automakers with Chinese corporate links. Polestar will sell down its remaining stock of the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 SUVs and keep its service network running, but the Polestar 5 sedan and Polestar 6 roadster will never reach American buyers. The brand is ultimately owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding, a Chinese conglomerate that also controls Lynk and Co and Zeekr.
The contrast with Volvo is the sharpest part of this story. Commerce authorized Volvo - also a Geely-owned brand - to import MY27 vehicles just weeks ago. That the same parent company produced one green light and one rejection suggests the rule is being applied at the brand level, not the ownership level, which will raise questions about consistency. Polestar said as recently as a few weeks ago that it was still working with US authorities to comply; that effort clearly failed.
The decision effectively ends Polestar's US ambitions without a formal market exit. The company gets to wind down rather than walk out, which is a polite way of saying the door is closing slowly rather than all at once.