Polestar holds firm on EV-only strategy as Australian plug-in hybrid sales surge

EV-only stance maintained amid a PHEV boom

Polestar has again ruled out adding plug-in hybrids to its Australian range, even as PHEV sales grow at a rate far outstripping the rest of the market. Chasing Cars reported that plug-in hybrid sales rose 210 per cent in the first half of 2025, with PHEVs at that point accounting for around three per cent of new-car sales, while battery electric vehicles represented roughly eight per cent and pure combustion about 73 per cent. ³

The publication reported that a succession of senior Polestar executives has defended the EV-only approach even as rivals including Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Polestar's own former parent Volvo walked back or abandoned targets to drop combustion and hybrid vehicles. Volvo's global retreat from a 2030 electric-only commitment in 2024 also made Volvo Cars Australia's own pledge to go EV-exclusive from 2026 untenable, according to Chasing Cars. ³

Within parent Geely Automotive Holdings, which also owns Volvo, Lotus, Zeekr and Lynk & Co, Polestar stands out for its insistence on battery-electric vehicles only. Chasing Cars noted that Volvo continues to offer PHEV versions of the XC90 and XC60 in Australia, while Geely and Zeekr are both set to add plug-in hybrids to their local lineups in the near term. ³

The brand's electric-only framing carries one qualification: as Chasing Cars notes, Australia is the only market in which Polestar has sold exclusively EVs, because the brand's first model elsewhere was the Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid sports coupe, with a 124km electric range (WLTP), produced until 2022. Since then, Polestar has produced only fully electric vehicles across plants in China, the United States and South Korea. ³

Maynard: an EV specialist brand opens a window

Speaking to Chasing Cars, Polestar Australia managing director Scott Maynard backed the position set out in a November 2024 open letter by Polestar chief executive Michael Lohscheller, who criticised what he called indecisiveness that slows the green transition and keeps combustion alternatives cheaper and more convenient. ³

“I'm personally chuffed that our CEO has doubled down on saying we will be an EV-only brand and that it is not a time to explore hybrid technology, because I think it opens a window for us,” Maynard told Chasing Cars. “I think there is a market for a brand that specialises in EV and does not continue to try and put an EV skateboard under an ICE chassis.” ³

Chasing Cars noted that while the Polestar 2 shares its CMA architecture with some combustion and hybrid models such as the Volvo XC40, the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 use dedicated EV platforms, and the new Polestar 5 has an even more bespoke battery-electric architecture. The publication also reported that Polestar will begin building the Polestar 7 small SUV in Slovakia from late 2027, again as a full EV with no hybrid version planned. ³

Polestar 5 launches with all pre-orders for the Performance

The brand's EV-only resolve coincides with the Australian launch of its halo model, the Polestar 5 electric GT liftback. CarExpert reports that the Dual Motor is priced from $171,100 before on-road costs and the flagship Performance from $193,100 before on-roads, and that, according to Maynard, all pre-orders received so far have been for the Performance variant. ⁵

“We often find that when a brand new model is launched, the first take up of that model goes to the higher end, and that's certainly been the case with this car,” Maynard told CarExpert, adding that he expects interest to broaden in time toward the Dual Motor. ⁵

CarExpert details the variants' claimed specifications: the Dual Motor uses a 112kWh battery pack with combined outputs of 550kW and 812Nm, a claimed 0-100km/h time of 3.9 seconds and a WLTP range of 678km. The Performance raises outputs to 650kW and 1015Nm and cuts the sprint to 3.2 seconds, with the same 112kWh battery but a lower 558km WLTP range. ⁵

Asked by CarExpert whether Polestar would cut the Dual Motor's price or add a cheaper variant beneath it, Maynard said no: “We won't see any changes to the range, and we won't see [the price of] the Dual Motor reduced,” he told the publication. ⁵

Brand momentum and a locally adapted campaign

Polestar's local confidence sits against a backdrop of growth but a crowded field. CarExpert reported in January 2026 that Polestar grew Australian sales 38.5 per cent in 2025, alongside 36 per cent global growth, while 103,269 EVs were delivered in Australia in 2025 at 8.3 per cent of all new-vehicle deliveries, up from 7.4 per cent in 2024. Maynard told the publication at the launch of the updated Polestar 2 that the brand still has “some clear air” despite rising competition. ⁴

Marketing-Interactive reported that Polestar delivered 465 vehicles in Australia in the first quarter of 2026, up almost 20 per cent year-on-year, and quoted Maynard as saying test drive bookings had tripled in recent weeks and that some retailers were bringing in additional staff to manage demand. ²

Marketing-Interactive also reports a dated local development: Polestar Australia will launch a locally nuanced campaign on 18 May focused on energy security, fuel vulnerability and the idea of “choosing better” – a rare move for the globally standardised brand, and one of the first times it has significantly adapted its global positioning for Australian market conditions. That publication quoted Polestar Australia head of marketing Jonathan Williams describing a possible mainstream shift for EVs locally, and Maynard saying the brand was not competing in the volume race being fought by cheaper Chinese entrants: “That's not a race that we're in,” he told Marketing-Interactive. ²

Policy context: Polestar's case for keeping EV incentives

Polestar's EV-only advocacy extends to public policy. In its response to the Productivity Commission's interim report on the net zero transformation, Polestar Australia argued that the fringe benefits tax exemption for eligible electric vehicles, introduced in July 2022, has been a critical driver of local EV uptake through novated leasing, and said the exemption and other demand-side incentives should be retained through a transitional period until the EV market reaches self-sustaining growth. ¹

The same submission cited first-half 2025 data showing EVs at approximately 12 per cent market share of new car sales, including a record 41,146 EVs sold in the second quarter of 2025 — 29,244 battery electric vehicles and 11,902 plug-in hybrids — and warned that subsidy removals in markets such as Germany and France had stalled EV growth there. Polestar also argued that any Australian road-user charging reform should be designed not to discourage the shift to EVs. ¹

The tension the brand now faces is clear from the market data itself: Chasing Cars reported that hybrids of various kinds are expected to play an increasingly important role in Australia partly because carmakers are removing pure combustion models to avoid penalties under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, with PHEVs among the beneficiaries of that shift — a trend that Geely group brands are embracing even as Polestar holds its electric-only line. ³