Q1 2025 sales figures are rolling in from throughout the automotive industry. Several manufacturers had great starts to the year. Subaru had a record sales month in March. General Motors sales increased by 17 percent. But it’s hard to find a brand showing more paper growth than Polestar at the moment.
The Swedish EV brand, formerly Volvo’s performance division, just published its Q1 2025 sales figures. Polestar delivered 12,304 vehicles in Q1, up from just 6,975 in Q1 2024. That’s a 76 percent year-over-year increase.
Key Takeaways
- The automotive industry as a whole had a strong Q1 2025
- Polestar sales increased 76 percent year-over-year for the quarter
- It was the Polestar 3’s first full quarter on sale in America
- Polestar has also offered up to $20,000 in incentives to Tesla owners on the Polestar 3
- Those incentives make the Polestar 3 relatively cheap to lease
Why Polestar Sales Grew
Polestar did not distinguish sales between the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3. But we can presume the Polestar 3’s introduction played a major role in the 76-percent increase. It’s the brand’s first crossover, and it’s expected to pick up a lot of sales volume. The Polestar 3 wasn’t on sale in Q1 2024. Q1 2025 was the Polestar 3’s first full quarter on sale in America. Polestar also credited “increased brand awareness and consumer consideration.”
Polestar Has Been Offering Massive Incentives
Part of the increased brand awareness and consumer consideration may be Polestar offering massive incentives to get its vehicles to customers, especially for buyers looking to get out of their Teslas. Polestar is offering (through April 30th) Polestar 3 customers a $15,000 clean vehicle credit on a lease, double the federal tax credit for EVs. The brand will then add another $5,000 of conquest cash to Tesla owners perhaps looking to move on after Elon Musk became involved in right-wing politics.
The Polestar 3 starts at $67,500. But those incentives can bring the monthly lease payments (after a $5,000 down payment) to under $600 per month.
TopSpeed’s Take
Polestar may not be on quite the rocket trajectory that the 76-percent year-over-year improvement in Q1 suggests. Polestar had a particularly disappointing Q1 in 2024, which means it had a lower bar to clear. Sales figures were about on par with deliveries during Q4 of 2024. And it would have been weird if Polestar had not increased its sales year-over-year by doubling the number of vehicles (from one to two) it had in the lineup.
But having the Polestar 3 in the lineup and consistently moving vehicles out the door will be encouraging. Despite being backed by major automakers, Polestar still faces a similar challenge to Rivian: scaling up production enough to reduce costs and generate internal cash flow.
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