Model Y Was the Best-Selling Car in Both Germany and Norway in September, but Tesla's Norway Share Still Slid

September gave Tesla two of its strongest European headlines of the year. In Germany, the Model Y was the most-registered new car of any kind, gas or electric. In Norway, it was again the country's top seller by a huge margin. The details underneath the two results, though, point in different directions.

Germany: a sharp rebound

According to Germany's federal motor transport authority (KBA), Tesla registered 12,552 cars in September, up 268.7% from a year earlier, for a 4.9% share of the market. That made Tesla the fastest-growing of the larger import brands that month. Model-level KBA figures, as compiled by NotATeslaKiller, put the Model Y at 8,038 registrations, about 22% ahead of the VW Golf at 6,580, the car that usually tops Germany's chart. The Model 3 climbed to sixth overall with 4,512.

The comparison base is weak: 2025 was a poor year for Tesla in Germany, and the Model Y sat only 15th in August, according to German leasing site preiswert-leasen. September is also an end-of-quarter month when Tesla typically pushes deliveries. Still, Tesla's 44,810 German registrations through September are roughly triple the same period last year, per the KBA.

Norway: first place, smaller slice

In Norway, the Model Y logged 4,810 registrations, about 25.7% of all new cars and more than eight times the second-place Volvo EX30 (576), electrive reports. Tesla as a brand registered 4,935 cars and returned to No. 1 for the first time since June.

But Norway's overall market grew 31% to 18,733 cars, while Tesla's volume rose only 2.2%. As a result its market share fell from 33.7% a year ago to 26.3%, as TeslAnt points out. Chinese brands XPeng and BYD together doubled their share to 7.1%, according to figures cited by electrive.

What it means

For investors, the German rebound helps explain how Tesla reached 486,532 global deliveries in Q3. For owners and shoppers in Europe, the Norway numbers are a preview: as almost every new car becomes electric, the Model Y is still the favorite, but it now has real competition for that spot.