Tesla sales fall for second straight quarter despite price cuts, but beat analyst expectations

DETROIT -- Tesla's global sales fell for the second straight quarter despite price cuts and low-interest financing offers, another sign of weaking demand for the company's products and electric vehicles overall.The Austin, Texas, company said Tuesday that it sold 436,956 vehicles from April through June, down 4.8% from 466,140 sold the same period a year ago.But the sales were better than the 436,000 that analysts had expected.

Demand for EVs worldwide is slowing, but they're still growing for most automakers.Tesla, with an aging model lineup and relatively high average selling prices, has struggled more than other manufacturers.

Still it retained the title of the world's top-selling electric vehicle maker.For the first half of the year, Tesla sold more than 910,000 vehicles worldwide, handily beating China's BYD, which sold 726,153.Tesla also sold over 33,000 more vehicles during the second quarter than it produced, which should reduce the company's inventory on hand at its stores.Tesla's sales decline comes as competition is increasing from legacy and startup automakers, which are trying to nibble away at the company's market share.Most other automakers will report U.S.

sales figures later Tuesday.Tesla gave no explanation for the sales decline, which is a harbinger of what to expect when it posts second-quarter earnings on July 23.Nearly all of Tesla’s sales came from the smaller and less-expensive Models 3 and Y, with the company selling only 21,551 of its more expensive models that include X and S, as well as the new Cybertruck.The sales decline came despite Tesla knocking $2,000 off the prices of three of its five models in the United States in April.The company cut the prices of the Model Y, Tesla’s most popular model and the top-selling electric vehicle in the U.S., and also of the Models X and S.The April cuts reduced the starting price for a Model Y to $42,990 and to $72,990 for a Model S and $77,990 for a Model X.

Last week, Tesla lopped $2,340 of...