Tesla · Donald Trump · Wired
When the Law Kills Your Electric Car Dealership
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Owning a US electric vehicle dealership has been a wild ride in the 2020s.
Key facts
- Haiken calls that statistic misleading because the brand’s newest offering, the Polestar 4 coupe, went on sale in Europe in January 2024 but wasn’t available in the US until December 2025
- The company, which is majority-owned by China's Geely Holding and its founder Li Shufu, says it will stop selling Polestar vehicles in the US beginning with the 2027 model year
- The Commerce Department under the Biden Administration officially approved the connected-vehicle rule in January 2025, after government officials argued that a ban on Chinese- and Russian-made
- The US Commerce Department did not respond to WIRED’s questions
Summary
Since Polestar Short Hills opened in northern New Jersey in 2021, it went through a Covid-era demand spike and EV shortage that left some used electrics with higher valuations than new ones; a new federal tax credit of up to $7,500 that brought a new wave of drivers in the door; lower sales volumes after the rollback of that federal tax credit, and the snipping of a state one; and then another wave of buying when EV-curious drivers began running from Elon Musk’s Tesla because of the CEO’s involvement with the Trump administration. Now, Matthew Haiken, who owns that Polestar dealership along with three other (non-Polestar) dealerships in the Prestige Collection Auto Group, faces another and more serious challenge. “It’s so unfortunate,” Haiken says.