Electric car maker Polestar to cut around 450 jobs globally

STOCKHOLM — Electric car maker Polestar plans to cut around 450 jobs globally, or about 15% of its workforce, amid “challenging market conditions,” the Swedish company said on Friday.

Over the past year, many automakers have warned that the anticipated growth in electric vehicles (EVs) has been slow to emerge due to poor demand, heavy price cuts, lower subsidies, and supply chain issues.

Polestar in November trimmed delivery forecasts and outlined a revised business plan, aiming for its cash flow to break even in 2025 and to reduce its reliance on external funding from key owners Volvo Cars and Geely. The automaker has one product, the Polestar 2, but the Polestar 3 electric midsize SUV and Polestar 4 coupe are expected this year.

“As part of this business plan, we need to adjust the size of our business and operations. This involves reducing external spend and, regrettably, also our number of employees,” a Polestar spokesperson said on Friday.

The company also said in November it would double down on cutting costs to boost margins.

Polestar has, like other pure EV automakers, struggled in its goal to turning profitable.

The company earlier in January said it missed its revised 2023 deliver target as high inflation, low demand and a price war ignited by Tesla weighed on the company.