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Jan 2 Reuters Tesla delivered a record number of electric vehicles in the fourth quarter, beating market estimates and meeting its 2023 target, but lost its spot as the top EV maker to China39;s BYD.

Tesla delivered 494,989 EVs in the OctobertoDecember period, falling short of the 526,409 vehicles that Warren Buffettbacked BYD handed over mostly in China suggesting that car buyers were looking for cheaper models in a highinterestrate economy.

While the U.S. automaker39;s yearend sales push mostly paid off, helping it deliver 1.8 million vehicles this year, it fell short of CEO Elon Musk39;s ambitious 2 million annual internal target.

However, it is still ahead of BYD for the whole year. The Chinese firm delivered a total of 3.02 million vehicles, including about 1.4 million plugin hybrid EVs.

Tesla stock, which doubled last year, was nearly flat on Tuesday in a broadly weaker market.

BYD39;s deliveries show price cuts are working for the Chinese company, said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The fight will hurt margins for both companies, but BYD clearly believes it39;s a price worth paying to increase market share and recognition, she added.

Tesla increased discounts and offered incentives like six months of free fast charging if customers took deliveries by…