According to the Wall Street Journal, Polestar, a Swedish manufacturer of electric vehicles is planning to make it public through a special purpose acquisition with Gores Guggenheim Inc. Sources say that Polestar could reach an SPAC deal by Monday. It would bring Polestar's value to $21 billion.
Polestar is a Volvo Car Groups brand for electric performance. However, both Polestar as well as Volvo are owned Chinese car maker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Sources say that the SPAC deal will provide $250 million more for existing investors including Leonardo DiCaprio.
Polestar, if the deal is approved, will join a host of other EV-related and EV-related businesses to go SPAC in the past two years, including Arrival and Nikola, EVgo and Proterra.
Polestar's goal is to establish a life-cycle assessment framework for electric car manufacturing. This will allow the manufacturing, sales, and end-oflife processes to be transparent and traceable so that Polestar can produce carbon-neutral cars. In June, the automaker announced plans to produce its first SUV, Polestar 3, in the United States. Production is scheduled to start globally in 2022. It is not easy to find high quality parts and a US manufacturing facility. Polestar might go public if the reports are true.
Polestar could also be positioned to compete with Tesla by gaining access to the U.S. market faster through the deal. Polestar 2, a sedan from the automaker, has been positioned as a superior car to the Tesla. However, it will need capital to become a household name in the EV market and one that is trustworthy. Polestar had to recall its entire global fleet of vehicles last year due to faulty parts.
Gores Guggenheim (a SPAC company) raised $800 million in a March IPO. Bloomberg reported that it was in discussions with Polestar in July.
TechCrunch has yet to receive clarifications from Polestar.
