Swedish electric automaker Polestar has begun delivering its Polestar 2 models to rental car giant Hertz at the same time as the company announced it has taken customer orders of over 32,000 since the start of 2022.
The Volvo Cars-owned Polestar is targeting annual sales of approximately 290,000 by the end of 2025 and says that growth towards this target is already well underway.
Specifically, Polestar announced late last week that it had taken over 32,000 customer orders for the Polestar 2 since the start of 2022, an increase of 290% over the same period a year earlier.
Polestar and Hertz announced in April an agreement for the supply of up to 65,000 vehicles, which would focus on the Polestar 2 but also include a handful of the company’s Polestar 1 electric performance hybrid vehicle, to be added to Hertz’ Dream fleet.
The start of deliveries marks the beginning of one of the largest single orders for electric cars ever made, and also goes a long way to confirming Polestar’s operational and manufacturing capabilities.
“Our partnership with Hertz is an exciting milestone that provides the opportunity for a significant number of potential new customers to experience an EV for the first time, and it will be in a Polestar,” said Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar.
“With over 55,000 Polestar cars already on the road across our 25 live markets there is no doubt that our brand is growing at an incredible pace.”
Already featured in the current Hertz “Let’s go” marketing campaign, the partnership is more good news for the electric vehicle sector.
The announcement also comes days after Polestar announced that it would formally launch the Polestar 3 – a fully electric high-end luxury performance SUV – in October.
With plans to launch a new EV for the next few years, the Polestar 3 will be followed by the smaller Polestar 4 electric performance SUV, which is expected to be unveiled in 2023, and the Polestar 5 4-door electric performance GT to be launched in 2024.
However, recently leaked images of the Polestar 5 have given us a glimpse of what might be on the cards, with images revealed by Inside EVs showing a sleek looking sedan, taking the car beyond the square shaped Polestar 2.
Polestar says it is due to deliver the Polestar 2 to Hertz in Australia later in 2022.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.