Polestar Revolution and Lutz’s strategy: “Online purchase in 5 minutes and home delivery”

ROME – Italy? ” I couldn’t wait to go back. Nobody has the passion for the cars that you have, a right combination of head and heart that fits perfectly with our DNA, which combines premium, design and high performance ”. For this “Italy is our strategic market”. These are the words of Alexander Lutz, managing director in Italy of Polestar, a high-performance electric car brand founded in 2017 by Volvo and Geely, which should open its 26 / m headquarters in the world in Milan by the end of the year. A second one will then arrive in 2023 in Rome. Lutz had already worked in Italy at Maserati, before having successfully launched the Polestar brand in Germany in 2019. And in our country, he says, “I left my heart”.

With which models will you land in Italy?

“In 2022 we will deliver our Polestar 2 electric sedan, of which we have already sold 55,000 units worldwide. And, after the global launch in October, we will begin selling the new Polestar 3, a 5-seater SUV with a design very aerodynamic. Then at the end of 2023 the Polester 4 will arrive and at the end of 2024 the 5, which has already been seen at Goodwood “.

What will the sales and distribution strategy be?

“We will have two permanent points of sale, which we call ‘Space’, in the center of Milan and Rome, managed by Volvo dealers, where customers will be able to touch the brand and test the cars. But there will also be ‘test drive hubs’. , itinerant contact points that we will open for two or three months in the cities where we see more customers, such as Florence, Padua, Verona, and where test drives can be booked online. The same can be done during the itinerant events of two -three weeks that we will organize in different cities. In each of these traveling stations there will be Polestar agents, who will be there not to sell the machines but to assist customers. The purchase, on the other hand, is done online from our website in less than 5 minutes and the car is delivered home. Ours is a mixed approach, which combines the best of both worlds, the web and physical contact with a consultant “.

A very innovative sales strategy, especially for Italy, where buying a car online is not yet within everyone’s reach.

“This is why we have invested a lot of money in ‘customer care’, that is a permanent service of Italian agents who respond from Italy to all the doubts and requests for customer assistance via telephone, chat, e-mail and video- call. We are selecting them and we are very demanding. They are our business card. Competence and speed of response are fundamental. Even in the choice of management, which will in any case be not very top-down and very horizontal. Not necessarily they will all be people who come from the world of ‘car. But everyone will have great responsibilities. In Germany I won the challenge and I am sure that I will also succeed in Italy “.

Polestar wants to sell 290,000 cars worldwide in 2025. What is Italy’s role in this strategy?

“Obviously Italy is not the largest market in Europe. And as an electric mobility it still has to push a little. But strategically it is the capital of luxury, fashion, elegance and design and therefore for us it is the first market. . Because the link between brand and market is not just made up of numbers, but also of the perception of the value of the brand. And I am sure that Polestar’s values ​​are in tune with Italy. If we can consolidate the Italian market it will be a great success for us, even if we won’t sell 10,000 cars a year “.

Tesla, considered your direct competitor, has created its own network of charging stations to facilitate its customers. Instead, you have chosen to agree with an energy provider.

“Yes, all Polestar customers have a Plugsurfing card that gives access to over 300,000 public charging points in Europe, using a single authentication and payment method regardless of the operator. The same card can be used at IONITY charging stations by taking advantage of a reduced rate. Entering now with a charging network made no sense. There are companies on the market now that do it better than us. Ten years ago, when Tesla entered it was different. ”