Tesla registered 15,875 vehicles in the United Kingdom in September, up 99% from a year earlier and its highest monthly total since at least the start of 2025, as the Model 3 and Model Y led the country’s biggest month on record for EVs.
The total, published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday, compares with 7,993 in September 2025 and 2,180 in August.
It takes Tesla’s registrations in the first nine months to about 46,200 units, already above the 45,513 it recorded in the whole of 2025.
Every Tesla vehicle sold in Britain nonetheless remains ineligible for the government’s purchase grant, and BYD outsold Tesla that month.
The Model 3 was the top-selling electric car and the Model Y the second, ahead of BYD’s Sealion 7, according to SMMT’s preliminary figures.
The Model 3 accounted for 9,929 registrations and the Model Y for 5,946.
UK registrations rose 12.1% to 350,518 in September, the strongest for the month since 2017, and battery-electric cars rose 36.3% to 99,199, or 28.3% of the market.
September is one of the two months each year when Britain issues new number plates, and it is also the end of a quarter, when Tesla’s UK registrations have peaked this year.
A Year of Swings
September’s total was 30% above June’s 12,173, the previous high for the year**, and was the third quarter-end peak of 2026 after March and June.**
Tesla’s UK registrations rose 18.9% to 28,189 in the first seven months of 2026, a 2.18% share of the market, according to SMMT data.
The monthly figures swung widely, from 718 in January, down 50.8%, to 12,173 in June, up 58% and the company’s best June on record in the country.
In July, registrations fell 48.1% to 512, leaving Tesla 35th among brands that month, and in August they fell to 2,180 from 3,243 a year earlier.
Tesla has cautioned against reading the series month by month, saying in March that “monthly registration figures are not an accurate reflection of sales or orders taken,” according to Reuters.
The comparison base is a weak one, as Tesla’s UK registrations fell 9.6% to 45,513 in 2025.
BYD registered 51,422 vehicles in Britain last year, including plug-in hybrids, overtaking Tesla for the first time.
Tesla delivered its 300,000th car in the UK in June, at the Manchester delivery centre it opened in February, its largest site in the country.
Tesla has been displaying its Cybercab robotaxi at that centre since late September, according to its UK account on X.
Priced Just Above the Grant
Tesla’s cheapest car in Britain, the Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive, costs £37,990 ($50,200), according to the company’s UK website.
That is £990 above the £37,000 ($48,900) price cap for the government’s Electric Car Grant, which is worth up to £3,750 ($5,000) per car.
No Tesla appears on the government’s list of eligible models, which includes cars from 21 brands.
The scheme also requires carmakers to hold a science-based emissions target, which Tesla said in July 2025 it had not signed up to, and it is not clear whether that has changed.
The Model Y starts at £44,990 ($59,400), according to Tesla’s website**, which is £3,000 more than the £41,990 at which its entry version went on sale in December.**
Tesla is using financing in place of the grant, offering both entry models at 0% interest, with the Model 3 at £299 ($395) a month and the Model Y at £349 ($461) after a deposit, according to its offers page.
On Thursday it also began a £3,000 ($4,000) trade-in bonus on rear-wheel-drive versions ordered by December 31.
Most of the range avoids Britain’s surcharge on expensive cars, whose threshold for electric vehicles rose to £50,000 ($66,100) in April.
The Chinese Challenge
Chinese brands took 15% of the UK market in the first eight months of the year, up from 4% in 2023, according to Auto Express.
BYD registered 20,140 cars in Britain in September, up 79%, which was 4,265 more than Tesla, although BYD’s total includes plug-in hybrids.
BYD’s UK registrations nearly doubled to 37,795 in the first half, against 27,677 for Tesla.
Chery’s Jaecoo 7 SUV was Britain’s best-selling car of any kind in September, with 10,813 registrations.
Britain applies a 10% tariff to Chinese-built cars, compared with duties of up to 45.3% in the European Union.
Nissan has pressed the government to change that, and Hyundai’s Chief Executive Officer said last month that the UK “has become like China.”
Tesla builds the cars it sells in Britain in Shanghai and Berlin, so a higher tariff on Chinese-built vehicles could affect it too, although the company has not commented on the proposal.
Rules That Favour Tesla
Britain’s zero-emission vehicle mandate requires 33% of each carmaker’s sales to be electric this year, and the market stood at 26.2% after nine months.
As a pure EV maker, Tesla exceeds the target on every car it sells and can sell the surplus allowances to rivals, although no UK buyer of Tesla’s allowances has been named.
The government put the average price of a traded allowance at about £4,000 in its consultation on the mandate.
That consultation, which closes on October 23, sets out options that would lower the 2030 target from 80% to 70% or 60%.
Tesla told the government last year that new flexibilities “will suppress battery electric vehicle supply” and risk the UK missing its carbon budgets.
“The UK still has the world’s toughest targets and highest energy costs,” SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said on Friday.
A separate change will add costs for owners, as the government confirmed in July a charge of 3 pence per mile for electric cars from April 2028.
FSD in the UK
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software is not available in Britain.
“Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is not yet available but may be in the future,” Tesla’s UK configurator says, listing it at £99 ($131) a month.
The Dutch vehicle authority approved the system in April, but that approval “is currently valid only in the Netherlands,” the regulator said, and it does not carry over to Britain.
British officials have pushed for caution at the United Nations body that sets the rules, The Telegraph reported in March.
“Introducing system-initiated manoeuvres is a significant step which entails a degree of unknown,” Department for Transport officials wrote, according to the newspaper.
Its UK subsidiary, Tesla Motors Limited, reported turnover of £1.94 billion ($2.6 billion) for 2024, down from £2.47 billion, and pre-tax profit of £19.4 million ($25.6 million), according to City AM.
