Polestar has quietly shelved progress on the Polestar 6 electric roadster despite the car being roughly 95% engineered. The holdup isn't a technical problem — it's a trade one. Built alongside the Polestar 5 sedan at the company's Chengdu, China, facility, the Polestar 6 faces the same 100% Section 301 import duty that already bars the Polestar 5 from US dealerships.
A nearly finished car stuck at the border
Graeme Lambert, Polestar's head of global communications, confirmed to Edmunds that only a folding hardtop and rear seats remain to be finalized — everything else is locked in. The Polestar 6 shares its PPA platform with the Polestar 5, meaning the 112 kWh battery, dual electric motors producing 884 hp (659 kW), 800-volt electrical system (charges faster than the more common 400-volt), and suspension geometry are essentially identical between the two cars. That shared engineering is actually why Polestar got so far without enormous additional cost. The estimated range is approximately 373 miles on the WLTP standard (the EU range-test cycle — EPA figures would likely differ).
Tariff math and a crowded launch calendar
Even if the engineering hurdles were cleared tomorrow, the economics don't work for US buyers. A 100% tariff on Chinese-built EVs — the same barrier blocking the Polestar 5 — would push an already expensive roadster well beyond its reported ~$200,000 base price. InsideEVs notes Polestar has no announced plan to shift production outside China for this model.
Beyond tariffs, Polestar's internal priority list is full. The company has four models lined up through 2028: the Polestar 5 (targeting a summer 2026 launch), a refreshed Polestar 4, a next-generation Polestar 2 (2027), and a compact SUV called the Polestar 7 (2028). A low-volume image car simply can't compete for resources against those volume drivers — especially a planned large electric SUV on the same PPA platform that Polestar is positioning against the Porsche Cayenne Electric.
Demand existed, but not enough to matter
The appetite was real. Polestar sold out 500 launch-edition LA Concept reservations — each carrying a $25,000 deposit at a $200,000 base price — within weeks of the 2022 announcement. That's $12.5 million in deposits, a clear signal. But 500 units doesn't move a business needle, and without a US path to market, the commercial case stays weak.
Canada represents a potential opening: its EV tariff on Chinese imports dropped from 100% to 6.1% in February 2026. No official Polestar 6 Canada strategy has been announced, but the math there looks very different than it does at the US border.
Until the tariff picture changes or Polestar finds a non-Chinese production site, the Polestar 6 remains a car that's nearly ready to build — just not ready for this market.