Polestar Says Its Cars Are Too 'Modest' for America

The brand is taking its designs in a new direction.

By: Jeff Perez

Jan 22, 2025 at 5:00pm ET

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Polestar has had its fair share of problems recently. The automaker ousted founding CEO Thomas Ingenlath amid massive sales declines and has been struggling to get new product out the door. But newly appointed CEO Michael Lohscheller believes one of Polestar's biggest issues—at least in America—is the way its cars look.

In an interview with the UK's Car magazine, Lohscheller said that American and Chinese buyers, "don't want too much understatement," referencing the brand's current design language. That design language was penned by former head of design Maximilian Missoni—who left for BMW—and debuted on the Polestar 1 coupe in 2019.

Photo by: InsideEVs

But that’s not to say Polestar will take its vehicles in an entirely new direction. Loscheller still wants its cars to look "confident," above all else.

"The brief I gave [new design boss Philipp Romers] is to highlight the performance, and show it in a confident way," Loscheller said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean more colors. More paint choice drives complexity. But you know what? Polestar is sometimes a bit too modest, a bit too humble… But don't expect a radical change. It's a fine line."

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With the Polestar 5 sedan and Polestar 6 sports car already on the way, major design changes likely won’t happen until the Polestar 7. The Polestar 7 will be the brand’s new compact SUV, designed to compete with the electric Macan.

At the helm of Polestar’s new look will be Philipp Romers, the brand’s new head of design. Romers formerly worked as Audi’s head of design where he penned the A6 and Q6 E-Tron models, as well as the seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf.