Polestar is telling U.S. dealers it never saw the ban coming. One of those dealers is suing for $25 million, arguing the company saw it coming from a mile away and used the government as a convenient exit. Both accounts can't be fully true.
Polestar says it was blindsided by the U.S. government's decision to effectively push it out of the market, especially after Commerce officials reportedly indicated the company was on track for approval. Commerce told Polestar in 2025 it was preparing to recommend approval, and in April a senior official said it was reasonable to expect Polestar would follow Volvo if Volvo got the green light.
Polestar's Version
Commerce officials signaled approval was coming, twice
Volvo was approved in May; Polestar was denied in June, despite selling a nearly identical vehicle
Polestar offered real mitigation: data storage restrictions, independent cybersecurity audits, reporting requirements
The company still doesn't have an explanation for the denial and says the disparate treatment is "contrary to law"
The Dealer's Version
New Jersey dealer Matt Haken, who invested millions building a Polestar showroom in the Short Hills Mall, filed a $25 million lawsuit arguing the opposite story entirely: that Polestar had been planning its exit and used the regulatory ban as cover, without ever genuinely trying to fight it.
You all didn't even try. You canceled and pulled my franchise. You're not allowed to do that in New Jersey the way you did it, and you violated the law doing it.
What Makes This Genuinely Confusing
The hardware argument is hard to wave away. Polestar 3 and the Volvo EX90 share nearly identical hardware, run the same software stack, and roll off the same production line in South Carolina. Same majority owner, Zhejiang Geely. One got approved. One didn't. Polestar's confusion, on paper, has a real basis.
But the timing of Polestar's public confusion is its own tell.
It felt like that scene in Tommy Boy where the guy's like "no," and he's like "okay, thanks." That's what this whole thing is like. Oh, we were blindsided, we're so sad, we finally came out of the closet from crying, and now we're ready to respond.
Polestar didn't raise any of this publicly when the denial came down in June. The "we were blindsided" letter to dealers landed in August, weeks after Haken's lawsuit put the company's exit strategy under a legal microscope. That sequencing doesn't prove the dealer's version. It does make Polestar's version harder to take at face value.
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Somebody here is telling the more convenient story. It might be both of them.
Polestar sold fewer than 6,000 cars in the U.S. last year, about 6% of its global volume, small enough that walking away was never going to be catastrophic on its own. Whether Commerce genuinely reversed course or Polestar saw the writing on the wall and let the government take the blame, the dealers left holding franchises, showrooms, and lawsuits are the ones who didn't get a say in either version.
