Polestar says its forced cessation of car sales in the United States will benefit other global markets, with Australia set to gain from reduced development times and simplified production.

National security concerns led the US government to deny the Chinese-owned brand authorisation under the Connected Vehicle Rule in June 2026, which prohibits the sale 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”.

Polestar Australia had previously confirmed the announcement would have no impact on local operations, and the brand's Australian general manager, Scott Maynard, has reaffirmed that there may actually be benefits for the brand in all markets outside the US.

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"Polestar came straight out and said that 94 per cent of its sales come from outside the US, so it was a relatively small component of its global sales," he told CarExpert at the local launch of the updated Polestar 3.

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"Markets like the US have a raft of varying requirements on design that can differ from Europe and the rest of the world's markets, and so it does actually simplify what needs to be done to be able to develop a new car quickly.

"Polestar were pretty quick to come out and say that it allows us to focus on European markets, and also growth markets like Australia and the APAC region."

Polestar's global headquarters are located in Sweden.

While the company is under the umbrella of Chinese automotive giant Geely, it has progressively shifted its production and development efforts to various overseas countries. Notably, it announced in March 2026 it would consolidate production of its large Polestar 3 SUV – produced since launch in Chengdu, China – at the Volvo Cars plant in the US state of South Carolina for markets outside of China.

That follows the commencement of US production for the Polestar 3 in 2024, while the Polestar 4 has been imported from South Korea.

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When asked whether the announcement has affected plans to consolidate Polestar 3 production in the US, Mr Maynard said that Polestar's intentions remained unchanged.

"[The South Carolina plant is] a plant that's owned and run by Volvo, and we now have that shared arrangement. We've not yet heard of any change to those plans," he told CarExpert.

Importantly, Mr Maynard outlined that Polestar had no plans to exit the US market entirely and will instead maintain its localised operations to support existing customers.

"Polestar will continue to operate a business in the US; it will still sell its existing stock, sell used cars, and it still has a parts and service commitment that it will absolutely back up," he added.

"For now, we don't see any change."

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In any case, Polestar doesn't expect its global sales to be significantly impacted by the loss of the US. In the first six months of 2026, the brand delivered 30,423 units worldwide, 1861 of which were to American buyers.

That's not dramatically more than the number of Polestars delivered in Australia, a significantly smaller overall market, with the brand delivering 1202 vehicles locally in the same period. Polestar's year-to-date sales are up 2.5 per cent in Australia alone.

Australia is just one of 30 global markets in which Polestar operates, with the brand recently expanding its European footprint by launching in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

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