Citroen has discontinued the Polestar 2 in France. The reason? “Logotype is very similar to Citroen/DS”

Citroen sued Polestar for using a “badge too similar” to Citroen/DS in a vehicle description. The case was taken to the French court in July 2019, the Chinese company has been ordered to pay a fine of 150,000 euros, and has also been banned from using the logo for at least 6 months.

Citroen vs. Polestar 2 – fighting for the silver chevrons

The Citroen logo is a chevron, a V-shaped quotation mark pointing upwards. The DS logo is the stylized letters “DS” formed by tr The Polestar logo is two V-shaped letters pointing towards each other, which together form a star (Eng. Polestar this The North Star) Citroen decided that Polestar’s shiny chrome logo infringed on the company’s rights and could undermine the association with the French brand.

Silver Polestar logo seen on rear of Polestar 2 (c) Polestar

A French court has already ruled that Polestar is guilty, which is why it banned the use of the logo in Citroen’s home country for at least six months. This led, among others, to block access to the Polestar website from France. It shows a message about the impossibility of viewing the site “due to regional restrictions on the use of trademarks n°016898173 in°01689532” (source).

The Geely-owned brand will also pay a fine of EUR 150,000 (equivalent to PLN 695,000). The amount is not large, because Polestar has not yet started selling its cars in France. Deliveries were due to begin in early 2021 – at this stage it is unclear whether they will continue.