Chinese company BYD sold more electric vehicles than Elon Musk's Tesla in the last three months of 2023 as the two battled for the top spot in the sector.

Axar.az reports that BYD said on Monday it had sold a record 526,000 battery-only vehicles in the final quarter of 2023.

It marked the first quarter its battery-only sales have outpaced Tesla's. The US-based firm has seen demand slow as borrowing costs climb.

However, for the whole of 2023, Mr Musk's Tesla still sold more.

On Tuesday, Tesla said it delivered a record 484,500 electric vehicles in the last three months of 2023 and 1.8 million for the year as a whole.

The end-of-year performance was better than analysts had expected, as sales rose 20% from the same period in 2022 and picked up pace from earlier in 2023. Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities described the quarter as a "clear win" for Tesla.

But it fell short of earlier hopes. Last January, Mr Musk said that Tesla had the potential to achieve two million deliveries in 2023.

The firm cut prices repeatedly to try to woo buyers.

The milestone achieved by BYD is a reminder of the challenges facing the firm, which helped to launch the electric vehicle industry.