Poland's new-car market set an October record, but electric cars took a smaller share of it than a year ago. Battery-electric cars accounted for 6.1% of the 55,924 new passenger cars registered in October 2026, against 9.1% in October 2025, according to the monthly report of the Samar automotive research institute, which draws on the Central Register of Vehicles and Drivers. It was the second month in a row above 6%.
Tesla registered 66 cars in Poland in October, 25.8% fewer than the 89 of October 2025 and less than a tenth of September's 671, according to Samar's brand tables.
The October numbers
| Poland, new registrations | October 2026 | October 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger cars | 55,924 | 52,730 | +6.1% |
| Passenger cars and vans up to 3.5 t | 62,601 | 59,254 | +5.6% |
| Battery-electric share of passenger cars | 6.1% | 9.1% | −3.0 points |
| Tesla | 66 | 89 | −25.8% |
| BYD | 1,354 | 873 | +55.1% |
Samar says October was the ninth month in a row of year-on-year growth and the best October on record, both for passenger cars alone and for cars and vans together. From January to October, passenger-car registrations rose 9.5% to 526,444. Samar expects about 650,000 passenger cars and 78,000 vans for the full year, and says the pace of growth may lead it to raise that forecast. Companies took 65.5% of October's passenger cars.
Where Tesla stands
October's low figure fits Tesla's quarterly rhythm in Poland, where registrations cluster in the last month of each quarter. In August, the middle month of the third quarter, Tesla registered 69 cars; in September, the quarter-end month, it registered 671.
The year-to-date figure is the better guide. From January to October, Tesla registered 3,044 cars in Poland, 12.5% fewer than a year earlier, for 0.58% of the passenger-car market, down from 0.72%. In Samar's ranking, which orders brands by year-to-date registrations, Tesla is 29th, between Fiat (3,511) and SEAT (2,746). After September, Tesla was still Poland's largest electric brand of the year, as TeslAnt's September report showed from PZPM's electric-car tables. Samar does not split October's electric registrations by brand, and PZPM's alternative-fuel report for October has not yet been published.
Chinese brands lose share, BYD keeps growing
Chinese brands took 13.5% of passenger-car registrations in October, Samar says, their lowest share since April and down from a record 15.9% in August. Omoda registered 745 cars, 17.2% fewer than a year earlier, and Chery 912, a third fewer than in September.
BYD went the other way. Its 1,354 registrations were 55.1% more than in October 2025, and its 10,773 since January are more than three times Tesla's total. Most of that volume is plug-in hybrids: in September, by TeslAnt's count from PZPM's tables, only 153 of BYD's 1,365 Polish registrations were fully electric.
What it means
For Tesla, October in Poland says little on its own: it is a quiet delivery month, and the year-to-date decline of 12.5% is almost the same as the 12.1% after September. The weaker signal is the electric market itself. Its share fell by a third in a year while the overall market keeps setting records, and PZPM has blamed the end of the national purchase grant, which ran out of money in January. December, the next quarter-end month, will show whether Tesla closes the year ahead of or behind 2025.