Polestar’s new CEO comes from Vinfast and Opel

There’s been a change in leadership at Polestar.

The Swedish performance EV marque on Wednesday named industry veteran Michael Lohscheller as its CEO.

He replaces Thomas Ingenlath who has resigned after leading Polestar since its inception as an EV brand in 2017.

Lohscheller, who officially starts his new role on Oct. 1, has previously had stints as head of Vinfast, Opel, and Nikola. Polestar said he brings experience in “navigating competitive markets and scaling businesses,” which is exactly what the brand needs as it looks to grow its number of stores worldwide and boost deliveries substantially from the 54,626 units it delivered in 2023.

Polestar only last week named Philipp Römers as its design chief. Römers was previously head of exterior design at Audi, where he was responsible for the new A6 E-Tron and Q6 E-Tron EVs.

Polestar also in June named Winfried Vahland as its chairman. He’s held a number of senior roles at Volkswagen Group, including as head of Skoda. He was also head of VW Group in North America for two weeks, during the height of the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal. Prior to joining Polestar, Vahland served on Volvo’s board from 2019 to 2024.