By Marie Mannes

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle maker Polestar will roll out refreshed versions of its top-selling Polestar 2 and 4 models over the next year to support European sales, it said on Wednesday, choosing quick, lower-cost updates over all-new models to stem its cash bleed.

A Europe-focused reset, including a shift to a traditional dealer-led model, helped push Polestar's PSNY.O 2025 retail sales above 60,000 cars. But European Union and U.S. tariffs, tougher competition and softer-than-expected EV demand have made the road to profitability steeper.

Polestar said it expects low double-digit retail volume growth in 2026 and plans to expand its retail network by around 30% to support that push.

The EV maker needs higher sales to back majority owner Geely Holding Group's GEELY.UL five-year plan to become a top-five global automaker and sell more than 6.5 million vehicles a year by 2030 - with one-third of those sales coming from outside China.

Per Ansgar, CEO of Geely unit Geely Sweden Holding, told Reuters that Polestar continued to benefit from the Chinese group's technology and that Geely would keep supporting the brand financially.

"We do this because we think that Polestar is a very strong brand," Ansgar said, adding that Polestar had "good opportunities moving forward".

Geely has stepped in several times with bank-backed support, providing equity investments and acting as a guarantor to keep Polestar funded.

CEO Michael Lohscheller told reporters at Polestar's Gothenburg headquarters that refreshed models should lift sales and that the company would stick to its premium positioning.

"We want to be above 100,000 (annual sales) as quickly as we can," Lohscheller said. "But most important is establishing Polestar as a premium company."

The Polestar 5 grand tourer starts deliveries this summer, while a new station-wagon/SUV version of the Polestar 4 built in Busan, South Korea, starts shipping in the fourth quarter.

The Chinese-made new Polestar 2 will launch early next year in Europe, but not U.S after being pulled from the region, where it faced tariffs of more than 100%.

Polestar's next fully new model, the compact SUV Polestar 7, is due in 2028 and will be built at sister brand Volvo Cars' factory in Slovakia - a move Lohscheller said should broaden its customer base.

"When you put all of this together, we get much more volume and segment coverage," he said, adding that he expects the lineup to cover 60% of the European EV market.

(Reporting by Marie Mannes. Editing by Mark Potter)

((marie.mannes@thomsonreuters.com; +46 8 502 423 82))