Tesla nearly quadrupled its German registrations in October and still lost its year-to-date lead to BYD. The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) counted 2,932 new Teslas in October 2026, up 290.9% on about 750 in October 2025, against 5,173 for BYD. That puts BYD on 47,961 registrations from January to October, 219 ahead of Tesla's 47,742.
The wider market set another electric record. Germany registered 94,086 new battery-electric cars in October, 79.5% more than a year earlier, for a 37.0% share of a 254,492-car market. In September the share was 34.5%.
Every powertrain, October 2026
| Cars | Share | Year on year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery-electric | 94,086 | 37.0% | +79.5% |
| Hybrid (incl. plug-in) | 95,931 | 37.7% | −5.6% |
| of which plug-in hybrid | 28,499 | 11.2% | −7.9% |
| Petrol | 38,516 | 15.1% | −40.5% |
| Diesel | 23,882 | 9.4% | −21.6% |
| LPG | 2,065 | 0.8% | +121.6% |
| Total market | 254,492 | — | +1.7% |
Battery-electric cars outsold petrol and diesel combined, 94,086 to 62,398, and came within 1,845 cars of the hybrid total. Petrol lost 40.5% of its volume in a year. Private registrations rose 20.6% to 40.7% of the market, while company registrations fell 8.2%. Average CO2 emissions fell 21.1% to 79.4 g/km.
From January to October, Germany registered 698,230 battery-electric cars, 28.2% of the market and 60.7% more than in the same period of 2025.
The lead has changed hands twice in two months
Tesla's German registrations follow its quarterly delivery cycle, and October is the first month of a quarter. In July, the first month of the previous quarter, Tesla registered just 367 cars. In September, the last month of that quarter, it registered 12,552. BYD's monthly totals are steadier: 5,256 in August, 6,040 in September and 5,173 in October.
| End of | BYD, year to date | Tesla, year to date | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| August | 36,748 | 32,258 | BYD by 4,490 |
| September | 42,788 | 44,810 | Tesla by 2,022 |
| October | 47,961 | 47,742 | BYD by 219 |
The end-of-August totals are the KBA's January-to-September figures minus September's registrations. Both brands have roughly tripled their German volume this year: BYD by 216.1%, Tesla by 206.1%.
Three Chinese brands outsold Tesla in October
| Brand | October 2026 | Year on year | Jan–Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BYD | 5,173 | +54.3% | 47,961 |
| MG Roewe | 4,140 | +48.5% | 31,503 |
| Leapmotor | 3,661 | +288.6% | 19,705 |
| Tesla | 2,932 | +290.9% | 47,742 |
| Xpeng | 1,380 | +284.4% | 8,403 |
| Polestar | 292 | −48.0% | 4,097 |
Tesla took 1.2% of the October market, against 2.0% for BYD and 1.4% for Leapmotor. The comparison has one caveat. The KBA's brand table does not split powertrains, so the BYD, MG and Leapmotor totals include cars that are not fully electric, such as plug-in hybrids and range extenders. Every Tesla is battery-electric.
What comes next
The KBA's model-level figures will show how Tesla's 2,932 cars split between the Model Y and the Model 3. In September, electrive reported them two days after the brand table.
To finish 2026 ahead of BYD in Germany, Tesla needs 220 more registrations than BYD in November and December combined. In September alone it registered 6,512 more. Private buyers, to whom Germany's purchase grant is paid per household according to income, are still the growing part of the market. Company registrations shrank in October.