Geely-backed brand Polestar has sold 1,070 vehicles in the UK last month, according to data published on Thursday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT).
The figures show a 43.4% increase from January 2025, marking the company’s 13th consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
Registrations have dropped by 38.3% compared to December’s 1,733 units, as the auto industry usually slows at the start of the year after a year-end surge in demand.
In the final two months of the year, sales had nearly doubled from the prior year.
Polestar also posted sequential growth in the final quarter of 2025.
The Gothenburg-based company reached its highest monthly sales in September, when 2,758 vehicles were registered in the UK.
By the end of 2025, a total of 16,959 Polestar EVs had been registered in the country, doubling the number sold in the previous year.
Updated Lineup
Speaking on the Keyloop‘s Drivetime podcast last month, Polestar UK’s country chief Matt Galvin said the brand is a “common sight on public roads,” as it approaches the delivery of the 50,000th unit in the country.
The manager highlighted the recent launch of the new Polestar 3, calling it “Europe’s first software-defined car,” and the upcoming Polestar 5, for which orders have already opened in the UK.
“I think this is the other great thing about over-the-air updates and software-defined vehicles, is that you haven’t got to keep visiting car dealerships to get these things fixed or to get them remedied,” he noted.
While hardware will always require maintenance or repairs, software now controls most of a car’s features, with electric vehicles bringing this software-driven approach to the mainstream auto market.
The Polestar 5, which debuted last September at Germany’s IAA Auto Show, was previewed in Austria between January 30 and February 2.
“Together with our partner Gran Turismo and its founder Kazunori Yamauchi, we joined the legendary FAT International Ice Race in Zell am See, organised by Ferdi Porsche,” the Chief Communications Officer Michael Manske wrote on LinkedIn.
UK Portfolio
Polestar‘s portfolio in the UK includes its Polestar 2 sedan, the Polestar 3 and 4 SUVs and the recently launched Polestar 5 GT.
The grand tourer is priced from £89,500 ($121,800), and deliveries were expected to begin in the Spring of 2026 as of October.
However, the timeline has now been delayed to the Summer, according to its website.
The UK is the first country to receive the upgraded Polestar 3, which was released two months ago, “due to high demand and the previous model year being sold out in that market.”
The British website, now updated to feature the new version of the Polestar 3, lists the starting price at £69,990 ($95,300).
In October, the estimated delivery time had increased to eight to nine months, up from five to six months when the new version was first released.
However, as of Thursday, the estimated delivery is scheduled to “early in March.”
Newly configured Polestar 2s have an estimated delivery time of “June–July 2026,” while customized Polestar 4 SUVs are expected to be delivered “late in February.”
Customers can still opt for inventory units, most of them available from late February as well.
Up until December 31, 2025, Polestar offered a seasonal offering of £2,000 ($2,700) off the vehicle list price, for its models 2, 3 and 4.
The incentive has been renewed until March 31, 2026. Customers can get £3,500 ($4,800) off the Polestar 2, which has a entry price of £45,160 ($61,500), and £5,000 ($6,800) off both Polestar 3 and 4 SUVs.
The latter is priced from £55,750 ($75,900) originally.
Although the SMMT does not provide registrations by model, EU-EVs — an electric vehicle tracking platform — reports that the Polestar 4 accounted for 581 units last month, making it the brand’s best-selling model.
UK Market
Auto sales increased by 3.4% year over year in the UK last month, as 144,127 vehicles were registered across all powertrains.
Of these, 29,654 were fully electric. Its share in the market grew by just 0.1% from the prior year, remaining at 20%.
As auto sales typically slow down in the first month of each year, automakers saw their sales plunge compared to December.
Brands like XPeng and Tesla also saw registrations decline year over year, contrary to the performance of Polestar or BYD, for example.
XPeng, which sold 150 units last month, did not register any cars in January, while the US brand had registrations drop 51% from a year ago to 718 EVs.
BYD registered 4,021 vehicles in the UK, more than doubling from the 1,614 units sold in January 2025.
