Polestar plumps for technocrat

Sino-Swedish BEV maker Polestar will replace CEO Thomas Ingenlath with industry veteran Michael Lohscheller from the start of Q4. The move represents a first major decision taken by incoming new Polestar chairman, ex-Volkswagen veteran Winfried Vahland, since he was announced in mid-June.

It is interesting to contrast the background of the two men for clues as to why the firm is making a change. For almost 20 years prior to stepping up as Polestar chief in mid-2017, Ingenlath worked in design, according to professional networking site LinkedIn.

From the late 90s, he served as design director at Skoda, then as leader of Volkswagen’s Design Center Potsdam, followed by stints as chief design officer and subsequently senior vice-president, design at Volvo Cars, Polestar’s former parent. So Polestar represents his first role running an OEM.

In contrast, Lohscheller’s background is in management control systems and finance. As far back as the early 2000s, he served as CFO of Mitsubishi Motors, before becoming director of group marketing and sales control at Volkswagen and later CFO of Volkswagen Group USA.

At almost exactly the time that Ingenlath assumed the Polestar reins, he took over as CEO of Opel. Since departing the Stellantis brand in mid-2021, he has enjoyed short stints as CEO of Vietnamese EV pure play start-up Vinfast and hydrogen truck maker Nikola.

Costcutter?

“It was such a pleasure to see a design man on the top step of an OEM. I fear the unique design DNA characteristics of Polestar will be diluted from now on as budgets are rolled back and an ex-Stellantis man is parachuted in to cut costs,” says Matthias Schmidt, market analyst at consultancy Schmidt Automotive Research. “The only question is whether the foundations started by Ingenlath are strong enough to bring about the likely change in direction.”

Nor is Ingenlath’s departure the only shake-up in Polestar’s design capabilities. Earlier this month, the firm announced the departure of Maximilian Missoni as its head of design after six years with the firm, and eight years with Volvo prior to that. He will be succeeded by ex-Audi designer Philipp Roemers. It is worth pointing out that all of Ingenlath, Missoni and Roemers have enjoyed long stints within the Volkswagen Group.

Polestar’s shift from designer turned first-time CEO to experienced finance and management figure is perhaps understandable in the wake of recent travails. The firm admitted in May that, owing to not having filed its annual report for the 2023 fiscal year, the company has received a deficiency notice from the Nasdaq exchange.

While it published preliminary unaudited financial and operational results for last year just before a promised end-of June deadline, these included a non-cash impairment charge of c.$450mn relating to Polestar 2 assets and inventory impairment. It only managed to file its Form 20-F annual report in mid-August. The argument for putting someone with a financial background in charge is more compelling in the light of these challenges.

And these are busy times for Polestar. It started US production of the Polestar 3 e-SUV in South Carolina earlier this month. And it also made first European deliveries of the new Polestar 4 coupe to customers in Germany, Norway and Sweden in August.

“Polestar has experienced an exceptional start-up phase and with a broader model line-up, Michael Lohscheller is the ideal leader to guide Polestar into its next chapter,” says Vahland.

“His deep industry knowledge, especially in driving operational excellence, developing a coherent product strategy and strengthening the global market presence will be instrumental in the next chapter of Polestar’s growth.”