BEIJING (Reuters) - BYD, China's biggest electric vehicle (EV) maker, reported first quarter 2024 sales fell 43% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, which may mean it will hand back the title of world's biggest EV seller to Tesla after winning it last year.

BYD sold 300,114 EVs in the first quarter of this year, it said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange late on Monday, down 43% from a record quarterly high of 526,409 units sold in the previous three-month period, when it surpassed Tesla. First-quarter sales were up 13.4% from a year ago.

But, the quarterly drop may mean Tesla will take back the sales title, based on forecasts for record sales of 458,500 vehicles in the quarter to March 31, per analysts polled by Visible Alpha. Tesla is set to report first-quarter sales on Wednesday.

Tesla's Q1 estimate is down more than 5% from the previous three months amid softer overall demand and a slowdown in the Chinese market where local rivals led by BYD upped the ante in a price war for buyers.

Tesla taking back the sales crown illustrates its global clout will not be easily challenged, especially as both companies expect a slowdown in Chinese EV sales growth this year. It also demonstrates that BYD's short-lived dominance followed from its domestic price cuts.

BYD sold 626,263 units of all vehicle types in the first quarter, up 13.4% from a year earlier, but down 33.7% from a record quarterly high of 944,779 in the fourth quarter, the stock exchange filing showed.

March sales were 302,459 vehicles, a 46% jump from a year earlier and its second-highest monthly sales tally. BYD reported an all-time monthly high of 341,043 units in December.

Sales of its purely electric models hit 139,902 in March, a 36.3% increase year-on-year, while sales of plug-in hybrids rose 56.4% to 161,729 units.

The China Passenger Car Association is expected to report Tesla's March delivery figures in China later on Tuesday.

BYD has responded since February to the price war Tesla started early last year in China by cutting prices on the latest versions of its line up by 5%-20% from earlier iterations.

Last week, BYD set a 3.6-million-unit sales target for 2024, a 20% increase from its record-breaking sales last year, Reuters reported citing sources.