Posted on 06/26/2026 5:47:37 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Swedish EV brand, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely, was authorization by the Commerce Department authorization under the connected vehicles rule.
The U.S. Commerce Department won’t allow Polestar to sell vehicles in the United States beginning with its 2027 model year, in the latest restriction targeting connected vehicle technology tied to China. Polestar, a Sweden-based electric vehicle maker majority-owned by Chinese conglomerate Geely Holding, said Thursday it would not appeal the decision. The denial falls under the Connected Vehicles Rule, which bans the import and sale of vehicles featuring certain connected technologies, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular connectivity, and certain satellite communications, when those systems are tied to China, due to national security concerns about data collection on American vehicle owners.
The company will still sell its existing Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 models in the United States and will maintain access to its service network for current owners. No new Polestar vehicles will be authorized for sale from the 2027 model year onward.
Only 6 percent of Polestar’s first-quarter sales came from the United States, in comparison with 78 percent from Europe. Shares of the company declined 6.3 percent on the Nasdaq in the announcement’s wake.
“The automotive industry is entering a new phase, based on regional dynamics. Our strategy reflects that, with Europe being our largest growth engine and our plan to manufacture Polestar 7 in Europe,” Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller said in a statement.
The decision sparks fresh questions about the future of the Polestar 3, the brand’s only current model with U.S. assembly. Volvo Cars, Polestar’s sister brand also owned by Geely, produces the Polestar 3 at its South Carolina plant. Volvo has noted it is consolidating Polestar 3 production there instead of also building the model in China, though a Volvo spokesperson said Thursday that Chinese production has not yet been stopped, and it is too early to determine whether the authorization denial will shift those plans.
The Connected Vehicles Rule was adopted in January 2025 and has continued to exist under the current administration. It represents part of a broader U.S. effort to address threats from vehicles with software or hardware linked to China or Russia. Prior policy developments have underscored concerns that such linked systems could empower foreign access to sensitive driver data or create potential vulnerabilities in critical transportation infrastructure. Bipartisan legislation has been put forward in Congress to further tighten or codify restrictions on vehicles tied to adversarial nations, including measures that would lengthen examination of components and vehicles coming into the U.S. market through third countries. “Vehicles today can collect and transmit massive amounts of data—geolocation of drivers, mapping of critical infrastructure, full-motion video, and more,” a document explaining the legislation reads. “These ‘connected vehicles’ are roving data collectors—sweeping up information that would threaten our national security if it were to fall into the hands of our adversaries.”
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Ever been camping and find yourself scrambling to somehow keep your campfire from going out because it started raining?
That is EVs in a nutshell. 😁
The government isn’t messing around with this legislation. I’ve had to deal with it firsthand - they want to know exactly where your electronics and software are being sourced from. China is a no no.
I’d argue, imo, this is as much about having an electronic backdoor to a safety-critical device as it is the ability to scrape data. We’ve seen hacks in the past being able to take over vehicle control, those were unintentionally feasible - imagine the tools being in place deliberately to do so?
The former principal for the Red Bull F1 racing team, Christian Horner, is working with Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD to get back into F1. Horner wants to build a team around himself that he can be completely in charge of, and BYD needs someone who “knows the ropes” of F1, but the move would give BYD a much larger stature on the world stage.
This isn’t just a rumor because it’s been published in the F1 press that BYD’s executive VP, Stella Li, had a “behind closed doors” meeting with F1 officials to feel them out on her firm getting involved in F1. Details weren’t made public so no one knows what level they’re looking to get involved but obviously the strongest move for BYD would be to serve as the team’s brand name sponsor.
The problem I see with this is that F1 holds races at three different race tracks in the US; Austin, Miami and Las Vegas. So if the BYD deal comes off, Red China would be would be waging its propaganda campaigns at race tracks on American soil.
So we need to start a letter/email-writing campaign to our congressmen to advise Trump45/47/48 that the best way to prevent this would be to put pressure on those three F1 circuits (Circuit of the Americas, Miami International Autodrome, & the Las Vegas Strip Circuit) to announce NOW that F1 will not be allowed to compete on US soil if BYD is in any way oinvolved, and do this before the movement has built up any steam.
Seems in line with recent actions limiting Chinese routers.
“. . . put pressure on those three F1 circuits (Circuit of the Americas, Miami International Autodrome, & the Las Vegas Strip Circuit) to announce NOW that F1 will not be allowed . . ..”
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Follow the money. These GP tracks are unlikely to do anything that hurts their bottom line.
I think we have bigger things to worry about than whether a Chinese company has an F1 team. Maybe it would be a net positive an wake the American competitive spirit. Cold war rivalry with USSR got us to the moon, we are still asleep with regards to China.
Never desired an EV; too pricey in every way & too many potential problems.....and never heard of the Polestar brand. C’est la vie.
Never desired an EV; too pricey in every way & too many potential problems.....and never heard of the Polestar brand. C’est la vie.
Yes, within the jurisdiction of the US, they only want the US government to be able to do this to you.
I’ve seen a few Polestar EVs around but not many.
They are outrageously priced and yes EVs in general are fraught with potential problems IMO.
They have their champions right here on FR but I ain’t one of ‘em.
Living in Florida, every time a hurricane blows through some of ‘em pop off and catch fire from salt water intrusion at the main battery.
And don’t get me started on the environmental impact of the mining, manufacturing and disposal of those batteries.
Gasoline forever! I say......and I have the T shirt to prove it.
It would seem to me that Volvo/Polestar would just setup a server farm in the US and change the code to point to IT instead of the Chinese server and then say “See! We fixed it!”. (While packing up the data and sending it to China from their own server farm in the background).
Any company that is majority owned by a Chinese company is a Chinese company, and therefore ultimately owned and controlled by the CCP.
So, you're saying Thelma and Louise were murdered?
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