Car statistics
Polestar car statistics
How many Polestar cars are on the road in Great Britain, every Polestar model, its share of new cars over time and which fuels they use, how they do at the MOT and their safety recalls. Built from DVLA licensing records and DVSA MOT results.
- Licensed in Great Britain 52,194 +45.3% on a year earlier
- Rank among makes No. 36 0.16% of licensed cars
- MOT first-time pass rate, 2025 87.0% Cars of the same ages 88.7%
- New registrations in 2025 17,013 0.84% of all new cars
- Most common fuel Electric 100.0% of those licensed
- Safety recalls since 1992 12 naming 3 Polestar models
How many Polestar cars are on the road?
There were 52,194 Polestar cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of March 2026, and a further 652 declared off the road (SORN). That is 0.16% of all licensed cars, or about 1 in 643, making Polestar the No. 36 make on the road. That is the most on the road at any year end since 2020. Electric makes up 100.0% of licensed Polestar cars, against 5.5% of all cars.
Polestar cars licensed in Great Britain
Numbers are still rising: the latest count is the highest in this series.
| Year | Licensed |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 835 |
| 2021 | 4,904 |
| 2022 | 12,124 |
| 2023 | 24,100 |
| 2024 | 32,192 |
| 2025 | 47,993 |
| 2026 | 52,194 |
Source:DfT / DVLA End of March 2026 Updated
Fuel type
Polestar cars
All cars in Great Britain
Source:DfT / DVLA End of March 2026 Updated
Polestar models
3 Polestar models have a page of their own. The most common is the Polestar 2, with 35,936 licensed: 68.9% of all Polestar cars on the road. The totals above also count models too small for a page of their own.
MOT pass rates are first-time passes of cars aged three and over in 2025. A dash means too few tests, or a model DVSA’s records do not separate from vans.
New Polestar cars registered each year
Registrations of new Polestar cars in Great Britain peaked at 17,013 in 2025. In 2025, 17,013 were registered for the first time: 0.84% of all new cars.
Registered for the first time, by year
| Year | First registrations |
|---|---|
| ’20 | 850 |
| ’21 | 4,091 |
| ’22 | 7,348 |
| ’23 | 12,542 |
| ’24 | 8,708 |
| ’25 | 17,013 |
Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated
Share of all new cars
Polestar’s first registrations as a share of every car registered for the first time in Great Britain that year.
| Year | Share of new cars |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 0.05% |
| 2021 | 0.25% |
| 2022 | 0.46% |
| 2023 | 0.66% |
| 2024 | 0.45% |
| 2025 | 0.84% |
Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated
Polestar MOT reliability
In 2025, 87.0% of MOT tests of Polestar cars were passed first time, from 12,860 tests. Cars of the same ages pass 88.7% of the time, so Polestar does worse than average for the age of its cars, by 1.7 points. That ranks Polestar No. 36 of the 50 makes with enough tests to compare. 4.5% of Polestar tests found at least one dangerous defect, against 7.3% for all cars.
Every make and model ranked by MOT pass rate
Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis 2025 Updated
Polestar safety recalls
DVSA lists 12 safety recalls naming a Polestar car model since 1992, across 3 models. 12 were launched from 2016 to 2025, ranking Polestar No. 39 of the makes with recalls in those years. A recall naming several Polestar models counts once.
Recalls launched each year, 2020 to 2025
| Year | Recalls |
|---|---|
| ’20 | 3 |
| ’21 | 1 |
| ’22 | 1 |
| ’23 | 2 |
| ’24 | 3 |
| ’25 | 2 |
Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated
Models with the most recalls
| Model | Recalls |
|---|---|
| Polestar 2 | 8 |
| Polestar 1 | 2 |
| Polestar 3 | 2 |
Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated
Latest Polestar recalls
- 4 Jul 2025 RP1063 PS3 Cable Harness Replacement Polestar 3
- 23 Jun 2025 BCM2 SW – Safety Notice Polestar 2
- 20 Dec 2024 PS2 fsab Polestar 2
- 20 Dec 2024 PS3 HLCM Replacement Polestar 3
- 13 Sept 2024 PS2 Seat Bolts Polestar 2
Models mostly registered as vans are left out, as on our recalls hub. A recall applies to vehicles built on particular dates or with particular VINs, not to every Polestar. To check a specific car, use GOV.UK’s vehicle recall check. How we match recalls to models.
Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated
Makes of a similar size
| Rank | Make | Licensed | Change on a year | Main fuel | MOT vs same ages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | BYD | 78,331 | +316.7% | Electric | – |
| 34 | Alfa Romeo | 66,633 | −3.9% | Petrol | −1.3 pts |
| 35 | Subaru | 55,424 | −2.4% | Petrol | +6.4 pts |
| 36 | Polestar | 52,194 | +45.3% | Electric | −1.7 pts |
| 37 | DS | 47,661 | −0.7% | Petrol | −10.9 pts |
| 38 | Jaecoo | 46,868 | +1271.2% | Plug-in hybrid | – |
| 39 | Chevrolet | 40,488 | −16.4% | Petrol | −8.2 pts |
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensed and SORN counts | Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport | End of March 2026 | 37,339,879 car records (licensed and SORN) | 15 September 2026 |
| Registered for the first time | Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport | 2001 to 2025 | – | 15 September 2026 |
| MOT results | Anonymised MOT tests and results Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2025 | 29,122,953 car MOT tests | 15 September 2026 |
| Safety recalls | Vehicle safety recalls Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency Derived statistics UK Motoring | January 1992 to September 2026 | 7,495 road vehicle recalls (R/) | 15 September 2026 |
- Figures cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Northern Ireland is not included.
- Make totals count every car DVLA records under the make, including models too small for a page of their own. The rank is among all 525 makes on the record.
- Licensed counts are vehicles with a current tax or exemption at the end of each year (or the latest quarter). SORN counts are shown separately.
- First registrations count cars registered in Great Britain for the first time, including used imports.
- MOT figures cover normal tests of cars aged three and over; retests are excluded. The same-ages figure is what all cars would score with this make’s mix of ages.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.