Electric car brand Polestar has received a US$600 million (AU$900 million) loan from parent company Geely, just days before the company closed its second and final research and development facility in the United Kingdom (UK).
Accordingly ReutersGeely – which also owns lotus, Lynk & Co, Zeekr and a majority stake Volvo – Polestar borrowed the amount as a “shareholder loan,” meaning it won’t count against the troubled brand’s $US5.5 billion (AU$8.25 billion) debt.
The full amount of the loan will not be available immediately, the second half depends on Polestar’s future liquidity.
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In 2026, Polestar will launch an 800-volt version of its Polestar 3, while Australian showrooms will launch the Porsche Taycan to compete with the Polestar 5.
The Polestar 5 was developed in the UK, where the company closed its last research and development center last Friday, December 19, 2025.
The closures will cost 130 jobs and follow plans announced in early 2024 to cut 450 jobs out of its 2,100 employees worldwide.
Polestar secured a US$200 million (AU$300 million) loan earlier this year from PSD Investment, a company owned by Geely founder Li Shufu.
In November 2025, the Swedish brand reported a loss of US$365 million (AUD548 million) in the third quarter (July-September), in addition to a loss of US$1.03 billion (AUD1.55 billion) in the previous quarter.
This came despite higher global sales, with deliveries increasing 36 percent from 32,595 to 44,482 by the end of August 2025.
The larger losses were influenced by import tariffs imposed in the United States (US) in April 2025 – the subsequent changes to which created ongoing uncertainty – as well as changes in emissions regulations.
“The third quarter result was clearly disappointing for us… we continue to suffer from pricing pressure on our vehicles and have higher production costs due to tariffs,” Polestar CFO Jean-Francois Mady said in an earnings conference call.
Another challenge for Polestar is that in the United States in September, the federal electric vehicle (EV) tax credit of US$7,500 (A$11,256) and the used electric vehicle incentive of US$4,000 (A$6,000) were removed.
The Australian federal government is also considering possible changes to local electric vehicle incentives as it examines the fringe benefit tax exemption for “fuel efficient vehicles”.
Polestar Australia’s year-to-date sales totaled 2188 to the end of November, compared to 1536 at the same time in 2024.
MORE: Discover the Polestar showroom
