What brand of company car was most popular in 2022? While Toyota may rank supreme in Taiwan, Germany has a different story to tell.
LeasePlan, Germany’s largest auto-leasing company, possesses a fleet of more than 120,000 commercial vehicles available for leasing to businesses. The company revealed that the Volkswagen Passat remains the most popular choice for company cars, with a rate as high as 5.47%. However, as businesses grow more environmentally conscious and want to reduce their carbon footprint, they’ve begun switching to electrical vehicles. Interestingly enough, their first choice hasn’t been Volkswagen or Tesla.
Polestar, an electric car brand under Volvo, made a splash in 2022 with its first fully electrical vehicle, the Polestar 2 (the Polestar 1 is a hybrid). Over the past year, the Polestar 2 has continued to garner popularity, climbing to the top of sales charts across Europe. In fact, it’s even surpassed Tesla’s most popular models, the Model 3 and Model Y, to become the most popular electric company car in Germany, ranking tenth on LeasePlan’s rental rate list at 1.3%
The Polestar 2, as the Model’s 3 direct competitor, is an amalgamation of Swedish engineering and Chinese manufacturing that has continued to win over European consumers. With a range of improvements, including updated OTA functionality, and a larger battery pack, more powerful motor, and a new smart camera slated for 2024, the Polestar 2 offers a top-of-the-line driving experience.
Factoring in LeasePlan’s commercial fleet of 120,000 vehicles and the Polestar 2’s 1.3% rental rate means that there are around 1,500 Polestar 2s currently operating as company cars in Germany. The ratio of fully electric and hybrid vehicles will only continue to increase in the future as climate change grows more pressing. Car rental companies may eventually switch to all-electric vehicle fleets, and even provide customers with charging solutions.
The Polestar 2’s production is based in China, making it ineligible for U.S. subsidies or for retail in Taiwan. However, their second fully electric vehicle, the Polestar 3 SUV, will be manufactured in the U.S., which most likely means it will be available in Taiwan.
Polestar appears to have an aggressive production strategy for the near future: Production on the Polestar 3 and their performance SUV, the Polestar 4, is set to begin this year while their high-performance Polestar 5 GT will begin production next year.
(Image Source: Polestar)