Tesla and Polestar see gains in EV sales in November

The first data on EV sales in November shows a promising rise, with EV specialists Tesla and Polestar showing a combined  2,869 EV sales in the latest month, led by the Tesla Model Y with the Model 3 still struggling.

The latest data released on Tuesday by the Electric Vehicle Council – the rest of the market data will be released later this week through the FCAI – shows the Tesla Model Y secured 2,269 sales in November 2025, up from 1,653 in the same month a year ago – and treble the 735 recorded in October, the start of the new quarter when Tesla sales are usually low.

The Model 3 recorded sales of 433, less than half the 887 recorded in the same month last year, but above the 181 sold in October.

Overall Tesla sales for the year are 26,271, down 24.4 per cent on the same period last year, with a mix of the wait for the refreshed Model Y, the rise in competition from Chinese car makers, and the impact of Elon Musk’s political actions cited as the main causes.

The release of the EVC data points to a stronger overall month for the Australia market in November, coming after a weak October , when EV sales totalled just over 7,300 – largely due to the big fall in Tesla.

Polestar recorded 167 sales during the month of November, with its sales led by Polestar 4, which sold 98 units, outdoing the Polestar 3, which got 56 sales in November.

The Polestar 2 sedan once again had a slow month, seeing just 13 units sold, which is likely in preparation for the updated 2026 model year, which is expected to land in the coming months.

Tesla’s sales in November appear to be on the rise as the company gears up for the launch of its Model Y Performance variant, which it officially unveiled at the Everything Electric show in mid-November.

Along with that, a more affordable Tesla Model 3 Long Range with 750 km of WLTP range is also expected to have its deliveries in December.

Tesla has also showcased a world first in Australia by undertaking a bulk Full-Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised test drive event at the same show in Melbourne. Over the three days of the event, Tesla provided over 600 drives using dozens of vehicles.

That has also contributed to awareness around the brand’s focus on tech and autonomy, being the first brand to showcase this technology in the country.

November also saw a drop in Tesla incentives, such as the trade-in bonuses seen earlier in the year, which could partially explain this slowdown.

Full market uptick is likely to be seen in the coming days when we receive FCAI’s data on how other brands performed during the month. With early data showcasing a solid increase over the previous month, we expect it to be a month of around 10% of vehicles in the market being battery electric cars.

See also The Driven’s latest Australian electric vehicle sales by month in 2025 – by model and by brand