Tesla Registrations Take A Hit In The UK For November — Model Y Not Among Best Sellers

EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA is witnessing a drop in popularity in the United Kingdom as hinted by car registration details for November from an industry body.

What Happened: As per data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), only 1,648 Tesla vehicles were registered in the U.K. last month as compared to the 6,025 vehicles registered in November last year, marking a near 73% slump. With the drop in registrations, the company’s market share has also taken a hit to 1.05%.

Overall battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations also took a hit last month with BEV registrations falling 17.1% year-on-year to 24,359 units. Total vehicle registrations, however, rose 9.5% to 156,525 on the back of growth in hybrid and gas vehicle registrations to near pre-pandemic levels.

The Tesla Model Y also failed to make it into the top ten best-seller list of November. The Model Y was featured on the top ten bestseller cars every month of this year except for January, April and September, October and now, November.

Ford Puma was the bestseller in the U.K. last month, followed close at heel by the Vauxhall Corsa. The Tesla Model Y, however, continues to be on the year-to-date bestseller list at the sixth position with 31,083 new cars registered since the start of the year.

BEV Registration Trends: Despite last month’s slump in BEV registrations, year-to-date BEV registrations is up 27.% to 286,846 units.

“However, with new regulation coming into force in January mandating that 22% of each manufacturer's new vehicle registrations must be zero emission, sustained recovery depends on inspiring consumers with fiscal incentives, as well as greater investment in essential charging infrastructure that gives drivers confidence,” the industry body said. Halving value added tax (VAT) on new BEVs and reducing VAT on public charging to 5% in line with home charging would also help scale sales, it added.

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