Polestar UK and Ireland MD Matt Galvin on Polestar’s expansion plans for the UK, doubling the number of spaces, switching from pure play agency and combating EV concerns.
A new start. Polestar UK and Ireland appointed Matt Galvin as its new managing director in July. Galvin has 20 years of experience in the automotive industry. With senior roles in Mercedes-Benz UK, Volvo UK, Nio UK, and a Polestar global sales role, he has split his career 50/50 between OEM work and time as a dealer.
Flagship UK ‘Space’
Polestar opened its flagship store and its eighth UK Space on the first floor of the Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield on 14 June. The Shopping Centre has 30 charging points installed and hosts the largest solar panel installation of any shopping centre in the UK (3,418 panels covering 60,000 square feet).
Galvin is enthusiastic about the Sheffield business. “IT is a really exciting project, a very special space, large enough to house current range and future new models, too. It’s in a very well positioned part of the shopping centre. We see extremely high interest from that particular store. There’s a very high footfall number that goes through that shopping centre. From a brand awareness perspective, the spaces do perform well and Meadowhall in particular has done really well with pre-owned cars as well,” he said
Polestar collaborates with six retailer partners, operating nine spaces. Galvin acknowledges the importance of the used car operation which has seen significant change.
“Up until recently we sold exclusively new cars and a couple of pre-owned cars but now with the cycles hitting that three- and four-year point, there’s more choice for consumers to buy Polestars through Polestar retailers. We pride ourselves on having one of the best pre-owned programmes in terms of consumer peace of mind. We offer a two-year warranty and two-year service package with every pre-owned car that is sold.
“Currently, we have an offer which promotes a free of charge wallbox to those who are new to EVs to help make the transition easier. We are focused on making sure that we can reach as many customer types as possible” he said.
Agency switch
The UK is one of the first European markets where Polestar will move away from pure agency to a non-genuine agency (NGA) hybrid, providing more interaction and direct contact with dealers to drive sales.
Polestar performance EVs are available from one of its Spaces in the UK but soon Polestar’s UK retail partners will actively sell from each Space.Sweden and Norway switched away from the agency sales model in June and other key European markets will follow in the second half of the year.
Galvin says: “The benefits of a non-genuine agency model from a customer perspective gives customers the opportunity to have a relationship with their local retailer, which they may have built up over a number of years but still have the benefits of being able to deal with a manufacturer directly as well.
“Non-genuine agency brings the retailer far more into the sale of the car, gives them more responsibility and influence over the sale. It will also lead to a smoother customer journey because to deal direct is great. The online journey is seamless and the Polestar online journey is one of the best in the industry, but sometimes you need face-to-face interaction and reassurance from an experienced retailer to help you navigate that change whether it’s from one brand to another or from an ICE to EV.”
From ICE to EVs
“That’s of course the big transition that the industry is trying to make now and retailers play a pivotal role in holding the hand of the consumer and helping them to decide whether EVs are the right thing for them moving forward. I think the industry as a whole needs help in that area.”
The government published its ZEV Mandate last year to establish the percentage of new zero emission cars manufacturers will be required to produce each year up to 2030.
“From a government perspective, I’ve been quite vocal recently in terms of the help that they are providing, there’s been a lot of sticks but not too many carrots right now,” says Galvin.
“We do support the SMMT’s position on the incentive side of things. The SMMT and the automotive industry have been asking for more support to help make that transition for consumers. That support comes in different forms. It could be in the form of halving VAT on new EVs for a period and levelling up the VAT on public charging. We need to give customers choice and certainty about the future.
“Having a ZEV mandate which is going to encourage OEMs to sell 80% of their cars as EVs by 2030 aligned with the ban of the sale of petrol and diesel is a welcome addition from the government. It’s our job as manufacturers to reassure the customer once they have shown interest that EVs can work for them and the step to making that transition isn’t as scary as they once thought.”
The government introduced schemes to lower ownership costs – a plug-in van grant of up to £2,500 for small vans and £5,000 for large vans until at least 2025 and £350 chargepoints for people living in flats At the start of the year, the House of Lords’ Environment and Climate Change published ‘EV strategy rapid recharge needed’ in which it called on the government to “turbo-charge the charging infrastructure rollout”.
“There are now more EV chargers than petrol stations and that statistic isn’t well known. I think that public charging infrastructure is a lot better [than generally understood] and I have personally experienced it, I drive an EV big distances and it’s never been a problem. Since the government legislated that all new charging points need to have contactless payment methods that has made it so much easier than having all these different apps. We have come a long way in the last four or five years.
“We are still not there we need more infrastructure and more reliable infrastructure but it’s better than it was,” concludes Galvin.
Easing EV concerns
Galvin believes technological advancement could help remove range anxiety. Technology found in EVs, namely the durability of batteries, has improved, he says.
“The technology in EVs has also come a long way. People who are worried about the ability to travel a distance in an EV shouldn’t be worried anymore because the infrastructure is there and the technology in the cars is better than it was, which means you’re going to need to stop before the car does anyway. There’s lots of positives we just need the government to help with the incentives to put electric cars on the consideration list of the buying public.”
Affordability is another cause for concern, but Galvin suggests EVs have lower whole life costs than ICE counterparts. “I would encourage people to look at the whole life cost of owning a car, the purchase price is one consideration. When you look at the running costs of an EV, they are lower than a petrol car, there are fewer moving parts to go wrong.
“There are overnight tariffs that enable you to charge an EV at a fraction of the cost of paying for petrol or diesel. Equally I know many people who can’t charge at home but still make an electric car work using a public charger network. There are subscriptions you can buy to different providers. If you are unable to stretch to a new EV then why not look at a used one? There’s many examples where the EV version is a similar price to the ICE equivalent.”
Polestar UK is planning to expand from its nine existing Spaces to 17 in the next 18 months. “The spaces are a big part of our strategy as we grow from one to three cars, we have some really ambitious and aggressive growth plans for our retailer network,” says Galvin.
“The network plan is in its development stages and we are working closely with our retail partners to establish what the next stages are. It’s exciting to be able to offer more choice to customers in the automotive space and to be able to tackle segments we’ve not operated in before. We’ve operated primarily with one vehicle for the last nearly four years and of course we have the opportunity to offer two SUVs to the market, with deliveries starting in September.”
Polestar has moved from being a one-car brand to a three-car brand, with Polestar 3 and 4 launching. “We’re about to approach a fairly significant milestone in Polestar’s history in the UK, 30,000 Polestars on the road in the UK. That brings with it the used car opportunity. Used cars are really important to Polestar it enables us to tackle another subset of the customer groups: those that want access to a premium luxury brand at a lower price point can do so with a two-, three- or four-year old Polestar 2.
“That enables us to bring new consumers into the brand and give them a fantastic experience through ownership and retain them for future years and maybe sell them cars in our product range as we grow that range in the future. There’s a certain competitiveness to the market and we’re no different. What’s driving it? We see a large portion of our sales going through the fleet sales channel which is not peculiar to other brands selling EVs.
“Speaking to leasing companies that are driving that growth, a lot of that sales growth is coming from salary sacrifice. There’s a lot of negativity around retail demand for electric cars being down which it is. But I don’t think the retail demand is as bad as the press report it to be. “The figures tell one story, but you need to be looking at the details to understand what’s behind it. Our growth is from a multi-faceted approach to the market to make sure we are competitive.