Welcome back to the latest episode of The Future of Automotive on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us.
This week I’m joined by a special guest, Matthew Haiken, the Dealer Principal and President of the Prestige Collection Auto Group in East Hanover, New Jersey.
Among their other brands, Prestige has one of 32 Polestar dealerships in the USA, which will be the topic of today’s conversation.
On June 25th, the Trump Administration announced that they were barring U.S. sales of Polestar vehicles after the current model year.
Polestar, majority-owned by Geely Holding of China, told dealers the decision stems from Biden-era provisions on hardware, software and Chinese ownership that the current administration has upheld. The company will not receive certification to operate for the 2027 model year and beyond.
Matthew, thanks for joining me today on the Future of Automotive segment, and I look forward to getting your thoughts on this topic.
Questions for Matthew:
- First off, tell us a little bit about your dealer group
- Give us a little background here. Did this announcement come as a surprise?
- What has happened since the announcement on June 25th?
- What will you do with the existing inventory on the ground?
- Will there be any impact to those consumers who already bought a Polestar vehicle from you?
- What are your plans to do with the physical dealership location?
- After being through this, what advice would you give to other dealers, or even the Trump Administration into the future?
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our new Mobility Fund.
Don’t forget to check out my two books, The Future of Automotive Retail and The Future of Mobility, both available on Amazon.com.
Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!
