Polestar owners have been left ‘holding the bag’ after the EV brand pulled out of the US

Last month, Polestar shocked the auto industry when it announced this It announced its withdrawal from the United States.

The electric vehicle company’s decision came after the federal government denied it permission to continue selling its cars despite this A rule bans vehicles with Chinese-made connected vehicle software. Polestar, which is headquartered in Sweden but owned by China’s Geely, said it will stop selling its cars in the United States starting in 2027.

For thousands of Polestar owners and dozens of dealers in the United States, it was a moment of disappointment and uncertainty. What will happen to their vehicles? Who will serve them? Will they continue to get software updates? At a time when the depreciation rates of electric vehicles are at record levels, what will happen to the value of their cars? As these questions persist, many are now looking for someone to blame, and are not coming up with any clear answers.

“It’s as if we’re the ones left with the property, without compensation for the sudden loss in market value of the cars we just bought or leased,” he said. DL Byronan inventor and content creator from Washington state, obtained a certified pre-owned Polestar 2 just days before the company announced it was closing its doors in the United States. “At this point, I have to trust that Polestar will honor its warranty and service obligations.”

Volvo, which is majority owned by Geely, has received clearance from the Commerce Department to continue selling its cars in the United States despite its Chinese ties — a fact that also burns Polestar owners.

“The ‘brand within a brand’ model has failed in the U.S., and that’s on Polestar — not on the owners who bought in,” Byron said. Edge. “We deserve better.”

Matthew Hayken, who owns a Polestar dealership in Short Hills, New Jersey, says state franchise laws typically offer protection if an automaker goes bankrupt or leaves the U.S. market voluntarily. This protection exists because dealers make significant investments that cannot be easily reused, including exclusive Polestar signage, long-term real estate leases, and specialty parts.

But this situation is different, as Polestar will not go bankrupt or pull out of the US due to declining sales. Instead, it is being undermined by a Biden-era rule that bans the sale of any vehicle equipped with connectivity software originating from “countries of concern,” which include China, Russia and Iran.

“This is the first time anyone has said, ‘That’s not us,’” Hayken said. It’s out of our control. “It’s the government.” Edge. “So it has left us very vulnerable.”

Regardless of whether new car sales end or not, Haiken dealers have ongoing legal obligations that they cannot ignore. In New Jersey, Polestar vehicles carry an eight-year battery warranty, while California requires a 10-year, 150,000-mile battery warranty. Dealers should therefore remain available for warranty repairs years into the future – even though new car sales will have ceased by then. Dealers also manage large lease portfolios, which means they will need to accept lease returns, purchase those returned vehicles, and resell them on the used market.

“It’s still very new to know what the future holds,” Hayken added. “We have to be here for our customers, but what does that mean? How does it work? I don’t know at this point.”

Polestar says it is working with its retail representatives to manage the transition. “Existing Polestar owners and rental customers will continue to have the same level of support and access to service as they do today,” Polestar spokesman Michael Oviara said in a statement. “All existing warranties remain in effect and will continue to be honored in accordance with their terms and conditions.

There is almost no precedent for this. Unlike Fisker, The EV brand that went bankruptIts customers were stranded No service or spare partsPolestar will continue to exist in other countries. The company said that “94 percent of retail sales volumes in the first quarter of 2026 came from markets outside the US” – although some of its US dealers dispute that number.

Haiken says that despite the uncertainty, he intends to stay in the business as long as possible. (He also runs several non-Polestar dealerships.) In fact, he expects sales to rise given the heavy discounts – Discount up to $25,000 – On the recently announced Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 models. Haiken interprets this as evidence that customers remain confident that the dealer network will continue to support them.

However, other traders may decide to close. On Redditone Polestar lessee reported that service centers in San Francisco and San Jose are in the process of being resolved, which could force him to travel more than 300 miles to Los Angeles to return his vehicles when his lease expires. (A Polestar dealer responded that Volvo dealers in nearby Marin County would likely accept the person’s car.) He said Reuters newly It has 32 service centers in the United States, many of which are co-located with Volvo dealers.

“If more merchant groups withdraw, what does the service map look like?” Polestar 2 owner Byron asked recently. “Polestar’s manifesto promises a maintained service network. The open question is whether they will manage it themselves, as Rivian and Tesla do.”

Hayken says his agency will have to find new uses for some of its facilities — and other dealers will likely also grapple with tough decisions. A $1 million-plus dealership with no cars to sell suddenly becomes a real drag on the balance sheet. Volvo, from which Polestar originally spun off, won’t want to share its retail and service space with a legacy brand forever.

“I don’t think there’s excess capacity there,” Hayken said. “Also, a brand that is investing millions of dollars in building equity and marketing…doesn’t want another brand to infringe on their mark.”

Haiken predicts that many Polestar dealers will end up downsizing or closing their businesses entirely. It’s a bleak time for the brand and electric vehicles in general. In the face of policy shifts, automakers are struggling to shift to cheaper and more profitable battery-powered vehicles. Electric vehicle sales in the United States are still declining, falling 22 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2026.

But Heiken remains convinced that electric cars are the future.

“The electric vehicle — the drivability, the instant torque, the lower costs of ownership over the life of the vehicle — is a superior technology,” he said. “At the end of the day, I know he’s going to win.”