Tesla sold 443,956 electric cars in the second quarter and overtook its closest competitor, China's BYD, which sold 426,039 electric cars in the quarter, reports Bloomberg.

But Tesla posted a second straight quarter of sales declines, while BYD's sales rose 21% in the second quarter.

Tesla's sales decline was caused by a 20% reduction in the company's workforce back in April. The reductions affected the employees of the sales department, writes biz.liga,

Tesla tried to increase sales by reducing the prices of the entire line of electric cars, but these measures were not enough. In the second quarter of last year, the company had managed to sell 446,915 Model 3 cars, the most popular in the series. This year, however, the quarterly Model 3 sales fell to 422,405 vehicles.

Tesla has yet to release sales figures for its Cybertruck pickup truck, which began shipping late last year. The company sold 11,000 such pickups, according to independent estimates.

CEO Elon Musk has previously said Tesla will launch new and more affordable models early next year, though the company has provided few details about what those cars will be, or where they will be built.