(Yicai) June 6 -- Polestar Technology, a joint venture of Geely Holding Group's Swedish electric carmaker Polestar Automotive and handset vendor Xingji Meizu, is to have a new chief operating officer, its second in just five months, amid rapid executive turnover in the motor industry.

Qin Peiji, a former head of Volvo Cars' sales unit in China, will soon replace Chen Siying, who is stepping down, Yicai learned from a source at Polestar Technology.

Qin left Volvo last August after four years, having led its China sales unit though the Covid-19 pandemic and grown its sales. He was named deputy general manager of Geely's auto sales unit soon after leaving Volvo.

Chen, who has been a senior executive at various carmakers, has overseen Polestar Technology's marketing since taking up the COO post, but has failed to boost sales.

Qin will face significant challenges due to Polestar Auto's new pure electric sport utility vehicle, the Polestar 4, on which it had placed high hopes and which has been a disappointment in China. Having started mass deliveries in January, the firm sold just 746 in the first four months of this year.

Polestar Technology oversees Polestar Auto's business in China. The Gothenburg-based company is a high-performance EV brand set up by Volvo and Geely that went public in New York in June 2022.

Polestar Auto faces the risk of being delisted after the carmaker failed to release its financial report in a timely manner, while its share price [NASDAQ: PSNY] has fallen below USD1 for several days in a row. The stock rose 2.6 percent to 77 US cents yesterday, but is down about 94 percent since the company listed.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev