When Polestar UK chief executive Jonathan Goodman told AM he was “thoroughly enjoying” his role overseeing the roll-out of the performance electric vehicle (EV) brand, it’s clear that he means it.

The Geely-owned brand arrives in the UK with a wholly online sales model at a time when many franchised networks are being slimmed down to leverage greater profitability and dealers are working hard to adopt increased digital retail due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

And, as a fully electric brand – once the Polestar 1 hybrid ceases production at the end of 2021 – Polestar has CO2 emissions credits to spare while other manufacturers battle with the shift to EVs amid fears of stringent EU fines.

Polestar has a sales strategy aiming to “fundamentally change the face of car retail”. However, Goodman insists that there was never any doubt it would draw on the know-how of traditional franchised car retailers to deliver industry-leading customer service.

“We took the approach very early on that we were not going to make the mistake that some manufacturers have of thinking that we could run a retail site better than the retail partners can,” Goodman told AM.