Tesla opened its largest facility in the UK on Friday, a 155,000-square-foot delivery and refurbishment center in Trafford, Manchester — as its British registrations are falling sharply.
“Welcome to Tesla Manchester Trafford, built for thousands of deliveries and used car refurbs,” the company wrote on X on Sunday.
The site will handle new vehicle deliveries, refurbish and sell Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles, and offer test drives of the full UK lineup. It is capable of storing hundreds of vehicles at a time.
According to Basenor, an aftermarket Tesla accessories firm, the facility is expected to deliver roughly 45 vehicles per day — or approximately 16,000 annually — though Tesla has not confirmed that figure.
Tesla UK & Ireland Senior Delivery Operations Manager Bex Hill said the site “marks the future of electric vehicles at scale, and showcases our belief in Manchester,” adding that the company has operated in the city for 11 years.
Hill said additional site openings and investment in Manchester would follow later this year.
Retail Strategy
The facility doubles as a customer experience showroom.
It features a Manchester bee-inspired LED mural, a 360-degree rotating car photobooth, and deconstructed Tesla vehicles on display.
An area Tesla calls the “Rave Cave” is accessible exclusively to new owners immediately after taking delivery.
The CPO operation is strategically significant.
Used Model 3 sedans are listed from £15,000 on Tesla’s UK website, compared with £37,990 for a new unit — creating a substantially lower entry point into the brand. The Model Y starts at £41,990 new.
Plans for the Trafford site were submitted in July 2025, meaning the project predates the company’s recent sales decline in the UK.
UK Sales Under Pressure
The opening comes as Tesla‘s UK market position is weakening.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Tesla registered 718 vehicles in the UK in January 2026, down 50.8% from 1,458 units in January 2025 and down 88.6% from 6,286 units in December.
For full-year 2025, Tesla registered 45,513 vehicles in the UK, a 9.6% decline year-over-year.
September was the strongest month at 7,993 registrations, while October was the weakest at 511.
The sharp January decline is partly structural — Tesla‘s delivery cycle typically concentrates shipments in the final month of each quarter — but the year-over-year drop suggests broader softening.
Yet the Model Y remained the UK’s best-selling EV in 2025, followed by the Model 3 in second place, according to SMMT data.
AutoTrader reported the Model Y was also the fastest-selling used EV and the second fastest-selling used car of any fuel type in January 2026.
That combination — strong used-market demand alongside declining new registrations — partly explains why Tesla is investing in a large-scale CPO operation.
UK Lineup
Tesla currently sells only the Model 3 and Model Y in the UK. Last year, the company discontinued production of right-hand drive units of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV.
Tesla‘s UK website lists the Cybertruck, though it remains unavailable for sale or registration in the country due to safety regulations.
The company operates more than 50 centers and stores across the UK, of which over 20 are full dealerships.
