Polestar Wanted To Leave The U.S. Anyway Before Regulatory Ban, Dealer Lawsuit Claims Polestar's exit from the U.S. market was actually part of the plan, claims a Polestar dealer that now finds itself without a new product to sell. Prestige Imports has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer, reports Automotive News, seeking $25 million in damages despite Polestar's legally mandated departure. The Biden Administration's Connected Vehicle Rule set the stage, with its ban on software used for communications and autonomous driving by "foreign adversaries," including China, taking effect with the 2027 model year (with hardware to follow for 2029). This, along with a bipartisan follow-up bill that would ban them even more, is for national security. After all, we wouldn't want to give a foreign adversary the ability to spy on us more than we already spy on ourselves, or remotely steer our cars off a cliff. The side effect of protecting existing manufacturers from an influx of competitive and far less expensive Chinese cars at a time when people can't afford cars must be a mere coincidence. While Polestar is a Swedish company, it is majority-owned by Geely, the Chinese auto giant. In June, the U.S. Department of Commerce refused to grant Polestar a waiver to continue selling cars in the U.S. as of the 2027 model year. Its dealers must now sell out its existing stock of 2026 models, including the American-made Polestar 3 and South Korean Polestar 4, then transition to a service and support role rather than sales. While a blow to U.S. Polestar dealers, this won't hurt Polestar overall that much. In the first quarter of 2026, 94% of Polestar's sales were outside the United States. It will simply focus more on Europe, whose drivers love Chinese EVs. For this particular dealership, however, it's a