Matt Hawkins, head of sales in the UK for Polestar, talks about starting a brand in the pandemic and helping fleets who are ready to switch to EVs.

There’s a lot of talk about how challenging the auto industry is currently. How have the past 18 months been for Polestar and fleet?

MH: I think 2021 was the year the brand really started to gain momentum, because we only started in 2020. I joined Polestar in February 2020 and it was still very embryonic at that stage. There was clearly a need for a focus on fleet, but I don’t think that was there from the outset. But, as with any new brand, it evolved from an idea and a big part of that initial core value was on performance and sustainability

Matt Hawkins, head of sales in the UK for Polestar

It took a little while to formulate a plan for fleet in the UK, but now we have a clear understanding. Myself and Debbie Hunt (head of fleet sales) both come from a fleet background and we have a good idea of what can be done better – and differently – to improve and enhance the experience of a new brand in the market.

What progress have you made with customers?

MH: We got to grips with the major leasing companies and had all of the relevant supply contracts in place early in 2020, to make sure they could actually place orders with us. Then we really started to tackle some of the major accounts that we knew were already banging at the door, wanting to order Polestars! So really, from the outset, we’ve been in a fortunate position of having quite a large amount of demand for products.

What makes Polestar stand out from other manufacturers in the auto world?

MH: Polestar isn’t really a sales-led organisation. All of the touch points we have with customers are based around trying to facilitate the customer experience. We look at what happens when they go to a test drive event or visit one of the Polestar spaces.

It’s not about how we can sell them a car, their monthly budget or when they are looking to change. The focus has always been on delivering a great experience as a new brand, particularly with fleet customers where you’ve got a lot of drivers who are either being pushed by their employer towards EV because of company policy, or they’re being pulled towards EV by Benefit in Kind incentives. Drivers might not have done much research or don’t fully understand EV, so those are the ones who need a bit of hand-holding and guidance around how to make the change. In addition, there are a huge number of people who still don’t even know who we are! We’re still that new kid on the block.

What are your specific future fleet goals?

MH: We want to learn how we can work with fleets and make sure that when drivers are looking at a list of car choices, they recognise Polestar. Brand awareness is as important – if not more important – than the whole-life cost that actually gets us positioned on fleets in the first place. Because of that surge in demand, we have seen consistent growth in residual values, which is probably ahead of what the marketplace is generally seeing – which is unprecedented anyway, but it also makes it even easier for us to get positioned on to company fleet policies.

What advantages have you found, being an EV-only brand in the fleet sector?

MH: I think the main advantage is that we can focus purely on the EV proposition. There’s no skewing of the message, we can give a really clear, concise message about what we offer. That means telling people we’re a fully electric brand that is all about sustainability, performance and premium.

We don’t have to think about achieving a target around ICE sales or even hybrid sales. I think that can confuse the messaging in some instances. If you’re going into a company talking about your fantastic new EV products, but then are also trying to shift 2.0-litre diesels because a factory is still churning them out, it can give off a mixed message. Polestar is a unique proposition because the focus is so heavily on sustainability – and genuine sustainability – so we can talk with confidence about the fact that we can be totally transparent in our carbon position, and our aim of building a fully carbon-neutral car by 2030.

But what about the challenges?

MH: The biggest challenge is probably just making sure that we’re in the right place at the right time. As a digital brand, we don’t have a dealer network that covers 150 locations that people can go to for test drives, for example. So we’re having to look at some really innovative and interesting ways to deliver products to people and actually get bums on seats and drive a car.

We’re a small team that is trying to grow in line with the growth of the brand. That’s quite difficult to do when you come from a standing start. And you don’t really know how quickly things are going to take off. But we’ve certainly seen an exponential growth curve since Q3 2021 last year and just keeping up with that demand is quite difficult.

What targets do you have for the fleet market in the near-term?

MH: We’ll do somewhere in the region of 7,500 cars this year, of which probably about 70% will be fleet. Instead of specific targets, our priority is to work with people who are already engaged and interested in EVs. It doesn’t make sense for us to start cold calling people and trying to track down people who may not be interested.

Fortunately, from a supply point of view, we’ve been relatively unaffected by semiconductor shortages. That’s a huge benefit to our lead times in comparison to some other manufacturers. Looking further ahead, we’ve got some really great plans to look at how we can help to serve as customers in a better way going forward. And that involves a blend of traditional people to have conversations with customers, but also some really great digital products that will help as well.

What issues do you run into with new customers and how easy is it to engage with people who don’t know much about running an EV fleet?

MH: We speak with leasing companies regularly to find out if they’ve got customers who want to talk about EV and, if so, what can we do to complement that relationship. We can be the third part of the conversation between the leasing company and the end-user and ask people what they need to know about EVs. Whether it’s the cars themselves, or the charging infrastructure, we’ll happily talk to them and give them as many answers as we can. That tends to work really well because it allows a leasing company to still manage the relationship with the customer, but we are able to give our input too. We currently sit with just over 300 end-user fleet agreements in place and we’ll be very close to doubling that by the end of this year.

What can fleet customers expect from the future Polestar line-up?

MH: We’ve committed to a new car every year for the next three years. We’ve got Polestar 2 with three different powertrains and we’ll be talking more about Polestar 3 in the coming months. That will be a large SUV and our next vehicle to market, which will be followed by Polestar 4 – a midsize SUV – 12 months later. Polestar 5 comes after that, which is the production version of the Precept concept car. I’ve been fortunate enough to see some of the pre-production versions of that car and it is just incredible.

As for what comes next, who knows? There were pictures of the O2 concept car, but we can’t say if that’s going to make it into production or not. But I think the future of the brand is in very safe hands. The design team are delivering fantastic cars that are, first and foremost, beautiful things to drive, own and be in and around.

Away from the cars, one of the huge benefits that we offer is that we are trying to do everything in a truly sustainable way – and be very transparent about it. That includes the information we put out on the website that details the carbon costs of building our cars and where all of the trace materials come from. Everything we’re doing is focused around being sustainable.

POLESTAR IN PROFILE:

Number of models: Four derivatives of Polestar 2

Best fleet seller: Long Range 78kWh Single Motor 170kW

Total sales for 2021: 4,100

Next model launch: Polestar 3, Large SUV

Fleet fact: As a digital brand Polestar has a large social media following. With a relatively small number of cars on the road, it’s very common for Polestar drivers to give each other a wave when passing.

Aims for the future: To deliver a fully carbon-neutral car by 2030 with no carbon offsetting, as part of our ‘Project Zero’. Sustainability is core for Polestar and reducing environmental impact is as important as delivering a premium, performance-led product.