Volvo in March announced that it would sell only electric vehicles by 2030 and that it would move its sales online. The Chinese–Swedish car manufacturer is already applying this strategy with its 100% electric subsidiary, Polestar, which will be arriving in Luxembourg before the end of the year in the Cloche d’Or. From there, it intends to make inroads on Tesla and the German brands that dominate the premium market.

“We have identified Luxembourg as a market with great potential. The country is small, but agile and flexible. The electrification of cars is following a promising trend and has overtaken diesel. The country has the second highest density of charging stations per capita. We are also a premium brand, and the Luxembourg market is very focused on this category,” says Lies Eeckman, director of Polestar Belux.

A world first in the Cloche d’Or

After focusing on seven European countries, including Belgium, with the opening of so-called “spaces” in the city centres of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Knokke and Liège, Polestar wants to accelerate its presence in the grand duchy before the end of the year.

The Polestar 2--a saloon car with a range of between 440 and 540km, depending on the version, and a price of between €45,900 and €53,900--is only marketed as a lease car in Luxembourg by LeasePlan and Ald Automotive. Around ten Polestars have been newly registered since the beginning of the year. “To start with, we are focusing on the B2B market by establishing partnerships with all leasing companies in the country, or at least we are in the process of finalising the last contracts. We will focus on private customers in 2021,” explains Eeckman.

The automaker will invest in the Cloche d’Or to open its first destination centre by the end of the year. “The opening of this location should be a world first, which will be a combination of our discovery areas where you can touch, test, configure and discover the car, and a place for the moment of handing over the keys. But we won’t wait until the end of the year to make ourselves known. It will be possible to book a test drive of the car online from 5 August. Then, from September and October onwards, we will be organising events to give our brand and our models more visibility,” says Eeckman.

Polestar is planning to launch its SUV, called Polestar 3, in 2022. “We are not going to stay with the premium sedan. We will quickly evolve our range, especially with the launch of our SUV,” says the director of Polestar Belux.

Vegan and non-negotiable

Customers buy the Polestar online, including a simplified configuration. The Polestar 2, whose standard version is already well-equipped, has three engine versions and three additional packages. This means that customers won’t be lost in the sometimes complex choice of options, but can still customise.

“Of course, we are present throughout the process to help the customer if they need it. But above all we want to give them the choice of when to buy. In our spaces, customers can touch and test drive our cars. However, we don’t want them to feel obliged to buy when they come to see the car. When the customer is ready, they can configure and buy the car online, with or without the help of our advisors. It’s a slightly atypical buying process, but it fits in with our vision of transparency," says Eeckman.

Buying online also removes the need for negotiation between the seller and the buyer. “Usually a prospective buyer makes a shortlist with different models of different brands. Then the customer goes around to the dealerships to negotiate the price. With us, this doesn’t exist. Our prices are displayed on our website and they are the same for everyone. They don’t depend on your negotiating skills. This reassures the customer. It’s very refreshing not to be faced with a classic sales profile that tries to sell you a car from stock to earn commission,” says Eeckman.

Polestar also plays the card of transparency, ethics and ecology. The brand indicates on its website the CO2 emitted during the production cycle of the Polestar 2 and traces the minerals at risk. To do this, it has entered into a partnership with the company Circulor, which is able to track cobalt from one end of the supply chain to the other via blockchain.

Finally, the brand uses vegan materials thanks to a vegan WeaveTech saddlery.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.