Polestar cuts 2022 delivery forecast amid China lockdown

(Reuters) - Swedish electric-vehicle maker Polestar cut its 2022 delivery forecast by 15,000 units to 50,000 vehicles on Thursday, hit by COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

"The reduction for 2022 is 100% attributable to the lockdowns in China," the electric-vehicle maker said in a statement.

COVID-19 lockdowns in China have caused supply chain disruptions for semiconductors and components widely used in electric vehicles, hurting the ability of companies to produce them.

Polestar said that, along with its partners Volvo Cars and Geely Automobile Holdings (GELYF), it continues to manage supply chain challenges as it did in 2021 when it delivered about 29,000 vehicles.

Polestar said it had introduced a second shift at its factory and plans to recover some of the production loss later in the year. The company added it was confident of reaching its delivery target from 2023 onwards.

The Swedish company said its vehicle sales more than doubled to about 13,600 and orders more than tripled to about 23,000 in the first four months of the year, compared with the same period of 2021.

"Any short- to medium-term economic effects have not dented our goal of selling 290,000 cars in 2025 - 10 times more than we sold in 2021," Polestar Chief Executive Officer Thomas Ingenlath said.

Polestar, which was founded by China's Geely and Volvo Cars, is set to merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gores Guggenheim Inc this year.

Rental car firm Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) said in April it would buy up to 65,000 Polestar electric vehicles over five years.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)