LONDON, March 5, 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Tesla registrations in Britain fell 37% in February to 2,422 vehicles, industry data showed.
- BYD’s registrations jumped 83% to 2,154, closing in on Tesla’s monthly volume.
- The wider UK car market grew, but electric-car share slipped again, raising pressure on brands and policymakers.
Tesla’s UK registrations fell 37% in February from a year earlier as Chinese electric-vehicle rivals, led by BYD, gained ground in Britain’s fast-growing plug-in market, industry data showed on Thursday. 1
The slowdown matters because the UK market is expanding again, and February is a warm-up for March, when the new number plate tends to pull demand forward. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said registrations rose 7.2% to 90,100, while battery-electric vehicles — fully electric cars — made up 24.2% of the market, down for a second straight month. “The UK’s new car market is continuing to recover and EV volumes are growing too, even if market share remains disappointing,” SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. 2
Separate data published on Wednesday pointed to a sharper slide for Tesla. Research firm New Automotive said Tesla sold 2,208 vehicles in February, down 45.2%, even as BYD grew 40.9% to 968 units, and warned that Tesla’s year-to-date figures were down 5%. “It is fantastic to see one in four motorists opting for an electric car in February,” New Automotive chief executive Ben Nelmes said. 3
Tesla pushed back on month-to-month readings. “Tesla monthly registration figures are not an accurate reflection of sales or orders taken,” a company spokesperson said in an email to UK media, arguing quarterly registrations were a better gauge because of how vehicles are shipped and delivered into the country. 4
The gap between Tesla and BYD is tightening even as Tesla’s Model 3 stayed a visible part of the UK market; the car logged 1,584 registrations in February, enough for fourth place in the monthly model table. 5
Investors have focused on Tesla’s longer-term autonomy ambitions at the same time as near-term demand looks patchier in Europe. Tesla shares were up more than 3% around $405 on Wednesday after Bank of America reinstated coverage with a “buy” rating and set a $460 price target, Investopedia reported. 6
In Europe, Tesla’s regulatory-credit business is also in flux. An EU filing showed the Tesla-led carbon-credit “pool” — a system that lets carmakers group their fleets and trade emissions credits to meet EU targets — is being re-created for 2026 without Stellantis, Toyota and Subaru, all of which were part of the Tesla alliance last year. 7
Operationally, Tesla is still wrestling with labour tensions at its Berlin-area plant, its only European production site. Germany’s IG Metall union said it won 13 of 37 seats in the latest works council election, leaving the body — an employee committee that represents staff in talks with management — in non-union hands again. “We will continue to do our utmost in the new works council to bring about change for us and our colleagues at the Gigafactory,” IG Metall lead candidate Laura Arndt said. 8
But the UK numbers come with caveats. February is a short month, Tesla’s delivery pattern can bunch registrations into quarters, and rival datasets can diverge because they pull from different sources and use different methods.
March will test whether Tesla’s dip was timing, demand, or something stickier — and whether Chinese brands can keep turning fast growth rates into sustained volume in Britain’s mainstream market.
