Polestar, the electric performance brand owned by Volvo Car Corp. and its Chinese parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, named Nathan Forshaw head of operations in China and Asia Pacific.
The appointment, effective April 1, will “strengthen the collaboration between Polestar Asia Pacific and its global headquarters, and accelerate Polestar’s development in the Asia Pacific market,” the company said.
Polestar also announced this week plans to expand its Asia Pacific market footprint beyond China to include South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, beginning later this year.
Forshaw joined Polestar in 2016 and was the brand’s head of global strategy and business development. Prior to that post, he was a senior executive of AB Volvo in charge of the Swedish truck maker’s operations in Asia Pacific, according to Polestar.
The company said its current China president, Gao Hong, is leaving for “personal reasons.”
Polestar is using China as a production hub. In 2019, it launched output of two initial products — the Polestar 1 hybrid coupe and Polestar 2 midsize full-electric sedan.
The Polestar 1 is built at a factory jointly constructed by Volvo and Geely in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu, while the Polestar 2 is produced at Geely’s Luqiao plant in east China’s Zhejiang province.
The two models are sold in China and Europe.