Polestar Is Beating EV Rivals Rivian, Lucid With Smooth Execution

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Polestar Automotive

is quietly becoming the drama-free electric-vehicle start-up despite a first-quarter hiccup.

Thursday, the company reported first-quarter deliveries of approximately 12,000 units. That is a big drop from about 21,000 in the fourth quarter of 2022, but management blamed “unusual seasonality” in the news release.

Importantly, Polestar (ticker: PSNY) maintained its forecast that it will deliver 80,000 units in 2023, up from about 51,000 shipped in 2022.

Shares were up 2.4% in premarket trading. Futures on the

S&P 500
rose 0.1%, while futures on the

Nasdaq Composite
fell 0.1%.

Polestar’s guidance of 80,000 units, most recently given in March, was in line with Wall Street’s expectations. That stands out relative to the forecasts from EV start-up peers

Rivian Automotive

(RIVN) and

Lucid

(LCID).

In February,

Lucid

said it expected to ship about 12,000 units in 2023, but Wall Street was looking for about 20,000 vehicles. Also in February, Rivian said it expected to ship roughly 50,000 units in 2023, falling short of the approximately 60,000 Wall Street was looking for.

One reason Polestar is having an easier time with production is it doesn’t make it own cars. Polestar, essentially, came from Volvo, which is owned by the Chinese auto maker Geely. Plants controlled by those entities are making Polestar’s vehicles.

That contract-manufacturing relationship has also led to Polestar spending far less money than the other two. For 2022, Polestar’s total operating expenses and capital spending amounted to roughly $4.5 billion. For Rivian and Lucid, the figures came in at almost $10 billion and $4 billion respectively.

Polestar delivered about six times as many vehicles as Rivian and 12 times as many as Lucid in 2022.

Polestar shares haven’t got a lot of benefit from better execution and a different business model. Lucid and Rivian, which own their production facilities, have market capitalizations in the range of $14 billion. Polestar checks in at about $7 billion.

Polestar shares are down about 70% over the past 12 months. Rivian and Lucid shares are off about 64% and 67%, respectively.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]