If you’re looking for an interesting upscale electric car, your choices are soon going to get a little bit slimmer. It’s official: The U.S. is banning Polestar starting with the 2027 model year. On Thursday, the company issued a press release titled “Polestar strengthens its focus on Europe following decision under the U.S. Connected Vehicle Rule.” In it, the fate of the marque in the United States of America was announced:
This follows a decision from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security to not grant Polestar an authorization under the current Connected Vehicle Rule to sell vehicles in the U.S. from model year 2027 onwards.
Ah. Yep, that would be a problem. So, which exact rule is the issue? As the Bureau of Industry and Security—part of the Department of Commerce—states, a rule was made on Jan. 14, 2025 to limit the following regarding vehicles weighing fewer than 10,001 pounds:
Model Year 2027: Prohibits sales of connected vehicles by connected vehicle manufacturers owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of China or Russia, and vehicles using their covered software.
There’s no denying that Polestar is part of the Chinese automotive group Geely, but so are Volvo and Lotus. So why does Polestar have to pack up and leave, but Volvo, owned by the same group and building similar cars on identical platforms, gets to stay and play? Well, it all comes down to the somewhat arbitrary world of waivers.
In May, Volvo issued a press release that went relatively unnoticed. Titled “Volvo Cars receives a specific authorization in the United States under the ICTS Connected Vehicles Rule,” it details how Volvo was able to continue playing ball (we talked about it in TMD that morning). In short, it and other affected automakers had to convince the US Department of Commerce to issue specific authorization letting the cars continue to flow into dealerships. As the marque stated, “The process is carried out on a case-by-case basis, and the issuance of a specific authorization follows constructive discussions with the US Department of Commerce and other US officials regarding Volvo Cars’ governance, technology, and data security.”
Needless to say, something seems weird here given the commonalities between the two marques. Not only do they share platforms, they actually share an American assembly plant. Every Polestar 3 crossover is currently built in Ridgeville, S.C., rolling out of the same factory that builds the Volvo EX90. There’s no word yet on what will happen to the Polestar 3, as it seems to be caught in the lurch. Maybe it’ll end up like the Bricklin SV-1, not officially sold where it’s built.
Mind you, the brand isn’t exactly exiting North America. Existing stock of 2026 model year Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 crossovers will be sold through, the marque has assured continued support for existing owners, and it listed Canada as one of its key markets to focus on in the wake of this situation.
As such, I won’t miss Polestar because they’ll still be around in my neck of the woods, but I do feel for owners and enthusiasts in America. Nature abhors a vacuum, and after Saab packed it in, the establishment of Polestar felt like a natural option for a Swedish marque sitting slightly left-field of Volvo. The big red flag here is the opacity of the situation. The Polestar 3 and Volvo EX90 ride on the same platform, roll out of the same plant, share key technologies, and the marques ultimately share an owner. And yet, one brand is okay to stay on sale while the other isn’t, apparently because Polestar simply wasn’t as persuasive in making its case to the US Department of Commerce and other US officials, rather than failing to adhere to a hard and fast rule that one might paint on a sign and tap. As Polestar has seemingly discovered, bureaucracies gonna bureaucracy.
Top graphic image: Polestar
Not having adapted to a regulation imposed by the previous administration 18+ months ago is in my book an indication that they either didn’t care, or were hoping to get a deal from the current administration to get around this.
Or both. It’s ok to not jump through hoops for a market that doesn’t work for you anyway. At least they have an excuse now.
They sold as many cars in 2024 as Toyota sells in a day, then sold half that in 2025 when every other EV manufacturer was nailing it with the last remains of the EV tax credit.
Yay… another thing Canada will have that the US won’t that we can lord over you Americans!!!
Please develop a few low-yield nukes, use them on DC and annex every Northern US state.
WOW, we are calling to Nuke the United States in this thread now. What a group of people we have here.
Yup… we’re a group of anti-fascists… or ‘antifa’
But I’m opposed to nuking DC. I like DC. Many great museums, architecture, monuments and history.
So I think a good compromise would be to merely burn the White House… again.
But burn Mar-a-Lago first.
Trump got an early start, already tearing down 1/3rd of it.
I find curious how anitfa gets thrown in America as “bad thing”. Here being anti fascist is generally seen as a good thing.
Let’s try this again. Autopian moderators are afraid of a certain word. A historical reminder: The US military was antifa during WW2. We fought those brown shirt guys from Germany, with a certain name that started with an ‘N’.
The problem could be better solved by utilizing a few hundred prison cells, instead of resorting to the loss of various historical structures.
Yeah but that would result in more profits for Republican-owned private prisons. And prisons are already overcrowded enough as it is.
And thus, the Guillotine would the solution for dealing with certain problematic individuals. It worked great for the French, right? RIGHT???
The Canadian Tradition is to Burn the Whitehouse, not to nuke it. LOL
Anyway, I would never want to nuke DC… too many great museums, monuments and history.
As for states to annex, we’re only interested in the New England states, New York and California. And if you beg, we’ll take WA off your hands as well.
EDIT: But we should burn Mar-a-Lago first before doing anything else.
Come- on Manwhich – Why are you skipping over Oregon? We want to be Canadians too.
Oh alright… but only if you bring us some of those marionberries and some Rogue River blue cheese…
WTF bro…..
Whatever helps you sleep at night after losing hockey 😉
Well we had to terminate hockey to make space for baseball for when we take the MLB and move it to Canada that we paid for with our trade surplus with the USA. And we will be taking away the NFL and merging it will the CFL soon as well… which we are paying for by reselling the dairy products you try to ship up here that we sent back.
Not to mention that we stopped liking sports with ICE involved and the immigration problems that caused. So we decided to ban ICE.
And we’re repurposing all the hockey players for baseball.
:-p
Polestar doesn’t have any vehicles that require petroleum to function. Volvo does. That’s the difference. Making asthma great again!
They probably don’t know that Volvo makes EVs (only a few).
Shh! Not like anyone in the current administration would read this rag but let’s not remind them of that. The more EV’s the better. Save the oil for necessities and fun, not daily transportation.
Well fuck. I was planning to buy out my Polestar 3 at the end of the lease, but this may change those plans. I have to see how things play out when the lease is up in 2027, maybe the value of the cars tank so hard, Polestar doesnt want you to return them and gives you a big incentive to buy out the car, much like what Nissan used to do with the Ariyas.
From a serving point of view, it may take longer and more expensive to get parts, but shouldnt be impossible. Diagnostic software is shared with Volvo, my local Volvo dealer is already my service center anyways.
Geely/Polestar did a really poor job of marketing and differentiating the differences between Volvo and Polestar. When I first looked into Polestar, I had a hard time figuring out the difference between the Polestar 3 and its EX90 cousin. Basically if you wanted 3 rows, you get the EX90. You want a more comfortable backseat, get the 3. The 3 is tuned for a slightly more sporty ride, while the EX90 was more typical SUV.
What is the chance that Polestar has to go only because of the China connection, not because it is sold directly to consumers? NADA.
Polestars rebadged as Volvos for the US market in 3, 2….
That’s what I was thinking. The 3 becomes the EX70 large 2 row between the EX60 and EX90. The 4 becomes the ES60.
If Mazda can have the CX70 which is just the CX90 with two rows, Volvo can do the same with the EX90.
I’ll throw this in there too, Polestar becomes Lotus. Polestar/Lotus 3 becomes the Macan competitor.
There’s some Lotus ethos in Polestar. My Polestar 2 handled way too well for being that heavy, same with the 3. Lotus stopped being just add lightness when the Elise stopped production.
I dont think a stand alone Lotus or Polestar dealer or service center can be profitable on its own, but combine the 3, and maybe even add Volvo in there. Show up to buy a EX90, leave with an Emira, works for me.
EX90 to Emira, a cross-selling opportunity nobody was expecting!
Throw in another battery pack, make it 10,002 lbs, sell it as the extended range version. Result.
Or just fill it with easily removable lead bricks
Make it gold bricks, gift the first one to the PDFile in Chief, and watch how fast the exception gets approved.
They should have just submitted some AI slop to the Commerce Dept showing a combustion engine in the front, and they would have had the waiver. The war on EVs is just another nonsensical behavior from the demented right wing, like the war on wind and solar power. Bring back coal, f*#k yeah!
So you wanna be a Pole(super)star?
And live large, a big price, nice cars, fast charge
CCP up in the software don’t trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
Of course, I read that in B-Real’s voice, LOL!
Which we all know was a smashing success. Joining the ranks of esteemed volume sales models such as the Ford Edsel, and Bricklin’s first attempt: importing Subaru 360 kei cars.
There’s literally a dozen people that are pissed about this.
I guess I’m one of the dozen, so 11 more behind me. haha I rented a Polestar 2 and loved it. It was so much more refined than the Tesla Model 3 (still is) and looks pretty dope.
I’m also not pleased, so that leaves 10.
I’m pissed about the process and precedent.
We have enough problems attracting investment with ever changing tariffs and regulations. Now we can add the executive branch individually selecting which companies can and cannot sell their product in the USA.
I have no strong feelings about Polestar either way.
Likely as simple as someone high up thinking:
Volvo – Swedish
Polestar – Chinese.
I would bet money that this is the thinking of who made the decision
The political appointees running the executive branch aren’t known for their knowledge of the topic they are supposed to manage.
This comment section is basically reddit. That is not a compliment to you all.
Why? It’s not like any lies are being spread here, the current administration is the most openly corrupt in American history. The Trump family has already made billions off of monetizing the presidency. If you’re super into corruption then, by all means, enjoy your moment in the sun…but no one is saying anything that isn’t true.
If Polestar wants to sell cars here a substantial payment to the president or his family will make this go away. They’ve literally set up direct channels for this explicit purpose. It’s not even hidden.
This rule was written under the previous administration. If anything, we should be glad they are actually following through with it instead of taking bribery money. There are plenty of reasons to be upset with this current administration, imo this ain’t one of them.
The whole thing was kicked off with EO 13873, put in place during cheeto’s 1st term.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/16/2025-00592/securing-the-information-and-communications-technology-and-services-supply-chain-connected-vehicles
TIL It started under Trump 1, regardless if it was actually an issue we had 4 years under Biden that could have changed it. Instead, they continued on with this push against Chinese tech in the US. I still fail to see why this is a bad thing. Our number 1 global competitor routinely engages in supporting internal bad actors to enhance its position on the global stage, yet we are supposed to roll over and allow it because “Trump Bad?”
Interpretation is 9/10 of regulation.
This is true. But I actually prefer shitcoins, stupid phones, and petty bribes to industrial scale NGO fraud buried deep in the budget. Mostly because public fraud is easy to punish, and the scale is necessarily limited. Hundreds of billions siphoned through a chain of NGOs, paying off hordes of administrators before finally being distributed to a local grifter who kicks most of it right back to their handlers? Nah, no one says a fucking word about that (until recently).
Everything I needed to know about leftoid NGO corruption I learned in the Peace Corps, watching funding for my irrigation pumps buy Kalashnikovs in the Nubian desert. Sudan being the unholy mess it currently is is directly the result of a pile of corrupt “non-profit” directors living in the fancy DC suburbs slurping up tax dollars and kickbacks like it was going out of style. Oh, I guess I should be fair- at some point Saudi money was involved too, always found it funny how easily LGBTQ+ “allies” would jump into bed with the leaders of a country where its illegal to be gay if it meant a solid payday.
And all those dead kids from the sudden evisceration of USAID are just gravy, right?
Peace Corps money went to buy guns and led to war? the irony would be humorous if it wasn’t so sad.
Feel free to touch
grassreflecting pool.He’s just green with
algaeenvy.If it’s not the strait of Hormuz it’s the reflecting pool of of green ooze.
Make algae great again.
What ever happened to “Drain the Swamp”?
Oh – He IS the Swamp.
*Deflecting Pool
You know like the files
100%
but Tiktok was allowed to be “sold” to US investors… just host the data in one of those data centers being built. That probably cost more money than the actual profit of their sales. They probably spend more money on warranties and floor space.
Well, someone at Polestar forgot to kiss the ring
I’m sure a substantial purchase of Trump Coin or whatever will fix this problem promptly
What if they attached a big red flag and only turned Hard Right?
That or driving straight into protestors should do it!
Then they’d have to race NASCAR tracks backward.
Well Volvo says it is on a case by case basis, so I think they didn’t bother to try and get the wavier for Polestar. From what I found online they sold less than 6k units in the US in 2025. So yeah they needed to pack it up and go home anyway and now they can blame Trump and not poor sales.
A Department of Commerce official was invited to a Polestar meeting. Sadly, all women present were fully clothed and no poles were seen.
I read this as ” Polestar refused to make an err “donation” to the Presidential “Library” fund, and will not receive a Waiver!”
I read it as, “Car that looks like a Tesla and competes with Tesla but doesn’t use Tesla software suddenly banned by current administration.”
I read it as “we sell so few it isn’t worth the hassle to even try to get a wavier”.
Came here to say just this. Volvo clearly had the better bribe.
Can they just rebadge as Volvos for the US market?
…yeah I’m not really sure why they wouldn’t just do that lol.
I wonder if that is what they will do but this is just to appease to the government and have them not look into it when some “new” models pop up under Volvo haha
I still dont understand why they needed a new name. I would bet 70% of people in the USA dont know exactly what Polestar is
I have ran into this issue since getting my 2 multiple times people look at me like “huh?” When I say Polestar so I just say it is a Volvo and they are like ohhhh haha
Same. I just say it’s a subsidiary of Volvo. It’s true enough.
I think 70% is almost optimistic. Especially around here, I’d say that number is closer to 90% (admittedly an area with very very low EV adoption).
Because they got to do a fancy IPO and raise a bunch of cash by launching a “new” EV brand.
Which is dumb, but the way things work these days.
And Polestar shouldn’t be its own brand anyway. If these things were just Volvos like they should’ve been the whole time, they’d sell more.
They might as well. All the strippers who were going to buy a Polestar have done so already.
Are you implying my wife is a stripper?
Note: I harness no judgment of strippers. Somebody gotta make that money.
Not at all. It’s just a reference to the double entendre of Polestar and Pole Star, and how stale that double entendre is in 2026.
I figured. I just wanted to give you a hard time.
I’m shocked they didn’t ban Volvo.
Isn’t that a brand tied to coastal elites and college professors?
The adminstration can pull this off without anyone really noticing. They can spray all over social media that “TRUMP BANNED CHINESE CAR THAT SHARES YOUR LOCATION WITH THE CCP”.
But ban Volvo, and there’s a bunch of people who lose their shit. And an entire Volvo factory in a red state that gets shut down.
They hate Volvo customers, but Volvo dealers are still owned by big time Republican donors (and Senator Bernie Moreno is a car dealer, too).
I try to read between the lines looking for Occam’s Razor, and I think you hit the nail on the head here. Or the razor on the … uh.. nevermind, I guess people don’t hit razors.
Certainly not head on.
And as always, they are just focused on foreign entities. Domestic manufacturers can gather whatever data they wish and sell it to whomever they please.
Manufacturers are fighting CA’s new law that would allow people with restraining orders to opt-out of their location data being sold to their abusers. No federal intervention on that one.
“Pole shafted”? “Pole vaulted” might have been better.
So, just get rid of the “connected” part of the car, and they are good to go? Seems like a win-win to me, but I’m not their target market, since I don’t want extra software.
But then they couldnt sell you a $12 a month subscription to remotely start your car!
Win-win-win, so much winning!
The connected stuff are the main product, the car is just extra.
“Polestar strengthens its focus on Europe following decision under the U.S. Connected Vehicle Rule.”
Good luck with that…
Ummm well this sucks as a Polestar 2 owner I mean I am glad I got it used but the resale value of Polestars is going to plummet even more. Also yeah how does this not affect Volvo’s?
Also ummm side note couldn’t Geely just get around this and just rebranding all Polestars under Volvo? Haha
I stopped monitoring the resale value of P2’s a while ago. It’s like looking at my tax returns at this point.
I’m just thankful there’s still a good amount of parts commonality between the P2 and other Volvos. When we bought it, I explicitly told my partner that there was a good chance this brand was dead in a year, a better chance it was dead in 5, and I had very low expectations it was gonna outlast 10 years even globally. Hopefully here in the Seattle area they’re common enough to keep the service center alive, the local Volvo dealers don’t really want to be helpful with them.
With the resale values being what they are, I’m very glad we decided this would be a long-term car for us. It’ll suck if it gets totalled in a crash or something, but…eh, we kinda knew it might happen. On the other hand, if the brand fully dies, cheap parts cars???
Yeah so true on parts glad the XC40/C40 are on the same platform and a lot of the expensive electrical bits like modules and sensors are the same between the two. I still need to bring mine in for a BLIS/Parking sensor issue (only issue I have ever had with the car and before this my daily was my FJ so it does not bother me much. Now is ACC stopped working then I would be annoyed hah)
The Trump administration doing something capricious and stupid? You’ll never get me to believe that!