Polestar cars banned from sale in the US. Will Lotus be next?
The United States of America has shut the door on Polestar, the Department of Commerce removing the company’s authorisation to sell cars from the 2027 model year
Polestar will no longer be allowed to sell cars in the United States of America from the 2027 model year onwards. This is because of a ruling by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, not to grant Polestar authorisation to sell, under the current Connected Vehicle Rule. The company will sell current stock before exiting the US market but has committed to maintaining aftercare services for existing customers.
The ruling is in relation to the US’s incoming Connected Vehicle Rule. This restricts the sale of new cars with hardware and software technology that has potential links to China or Russia. Polestar is owned by Chinese conglomerate Geely, with its Polestar 3 and 4 cars based on platforms closely related to platforms designed, engineered and manufactured by Geely. The underlying issue is data security. The US Government is nervous that cars could share data, or be accessed remotely by companies or organisations in these foreign countries that may be under political influence.
Geely owns Polestar as well as group-mates Lotus and Volvo. Unlike Polestar, Volvo does get certification to continue the sale of its cars in the US. There’s no word yet on whether Lotus or other Geely group brands will suffer the same exclusion. The Lotus Eletre and Emeya are both built in Wuhan, China and both use the EPA (Electric Premium Architecture) platform, which is a version of the SEA architecture that underpins Zeekr, Geely, Smart and yes, Polestar and Volvo models.
Polestar builds its 2 saloon, its 4 SUV and its new Taycan-rivalling Polestar 5 saloon in China. However, the Polestar 3 SUV is built in the US at Volvo’s Ridgeville plant in South Carolina. It was moved from the marque’s Chengdu plant with the aim of avoiding the Trump administration’s tariffs on overseas-built cars.
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Polestar has emphasised that the US market only represents 6 per cent of its sales volumes as of the first quarter of 2026. Europe alone accounts for a massive 80 per cent of its volumes and it’s here where, in response to the ruling, the brand will ‘increase its strategic focus’. Polestar will manufacture its incoming Polestar 7 compact SUV in Europe after 2027. Its plans to introduce a new variant of the Polestar 4 SUV and a second-generation Polestar 2 saloon will continue unchanged.
