Geely-Backed Polestar to List Via Merger With SPAC Gores Guggenheim

Gores Guggenheim, a special purpose acquisition company, and Polestar, a Swedish electric car company, announced Tuesday that they expect to close the merging of their businesses on June 23, subject to the former’s stockholder approval. Polestar’s common stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on June 24 under the new ticker symbol “PSNY.”

The transaction is expected to raise at least $850 million in gross proceeds. In fact, as early as September 2021, Polestar announced its intention to list as a public company on the Nasdaq through a business combination agreement with Gores Guggenheim. The estimated value of the company after listing is about $20 billion.

Founded in 2017 by Volvo Cars and Zhejiang Geely Holding, Polestar is a global premium electric performance vehicle manufacturer. The firm is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and its vehicles are currently available and on the road in markets across Europe, North America, China and the Asia-Pacific. By 2023, the company plans that its cars will be available in a total of 30 markets. Polestar vehicles are currently manufactured at two facilities in China, with future manufacturing planned in the United States.

Polestar has produced two electric performance cars. The Polestar 1, with a price tag of 1,450,000 yuan ($216,050), was built between 2019 and 2021 as a low-volume electric performance hybrid GT with a carbon fiber body, 609 hp, 1,000 Nm and an electric-only range of 124 km (WLTP).

The Polestar 2 is the company’s first fully electric, high volume car with a price range between 257,800 yuan and 338,000 yuan ($38,412 – $50,362). The Polestar 2 model range includes three variants with a combination of long- and standard-range batteries as large as 78 kWh, and dual- and single-motor powertrains with as much as 300 kW / 408 hp and 660 Nm.

The Polestar 3 electric performance SUV is expected to be released in October 2022. Polestar 3 will, over time, offer autonomous highway piloting powered by the best-in-class LiDAR sensor from Luminar and centralized Nvidia computing power. At its launch, the Polestar 3 will feature a dual-motor drivetrain and a large battery, with a range target of over 600 km (WLTP). Polestar will also launch three new models by 2024.

SEE ALSO: Geely and Volvo-Backed Polestar O2 Concept EV Released