Tesla rival Polestar closes R&D sites in the UK and lays off 130 staff

• Polestar is shutting its UK R&D sites and laying off 130 staff.
• A spokesperson for the EV maker said it was centralizing its R&D in Sweden.
• Polestar posted a $1.03 billion loss in its second-quarter earnings.

Tesla rival Polestar has shut down its two R&D sites in the UK and laid off 130 staff, Business Insider has learned.

Staff at the Swedish EV maker were notified earlier this month that its R&D efforts would shift from Nuneaton and Coventry in England to its headquarters in Sweden, three sources told Business Insider. The redundancy process is expected to finish by the end of the year, they added.

A Polestar spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to Business Insider.

In an emailed statement, the spokesperson said it no longer requires the R&D capacity in the UK now that the engineering work for the Polestar 5, its upcoming model, is complete.

They added that it was centralizing its R&D work at its headquarters in Sweden.

“With a leaner organisational set-up, our focus remains on developing the best performance EVs on the market,” the spokesperson said, adding that its focus was on supporting those affected by the cuts.

Polestar, which employs 2,100 people globally, has increasingly shifted its focus to Europe as US tariffs have rocked the global auto industry. The Nasdaq-listed company is majority-owned by the Chinese conglomerate Geely, which owns Volvo Cars and Lotus.

Polestar sold a record 2,758 vehicles in the UK last month. However, the luxury carmaker is burning through cash, reporting a net loss of $1.03 billion in the second quarter of 2025.

Its sales also lag behind Tesla. There were just under 8,000 new Tesla registrations in the UK over the same period, according to data from SMMT.

In January 2024, Polestar announced plans to cut 450 jobs globally, which was equivalent to about 15% of its workforce.