Tesla on Tuesday reported a smaller-than-expected 5% drop in vehicle deliveries in the second quarter, as the electric-vehicle maker's price cuts and incentives helped stimulate demand.

Shares of the world's most valuable automaker rose 4.5% in premarket trading. They are down 15.5% this year.

The EV maker handed over 443,956 vehicles in the three months to June 30, 4.8% lower than a year earlier and up 14.8% from the preceding quarter.

Wall Street on average had expected Tesla to deliver 438,019 vehicles, according to 12 analysts polled by LSEG.

Tesla delivered 422,405 Model 3 and Model Y, and 21,551 units of other models, which include the Model S sedan, Cybertruck and Model X premium SUV. It produced 410,831 vehicles during the April-June period.

Tesla, which ignited an EV price war more than a year earlier, has also offered discounts and incentives such as low-interest loans and cheaper leasing plans in the US, China and Europe, which have weighed on its margins.

This marks the first time Tesla posted a year-on-year sales fall for a second consecutive quarter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he expects the company to increase its deliveries in 2024 from a year earlier. However, Wall Street largely expects a drop due to poor sentiment around electric vehicles and high interest rates.

Tesla said in January that it expected "notably lower" growth in deliveries this year and dropped its goal of delivering 20 million vehicles a year by 2030 in its latest annual impact report published in May, a drastic change in tone from its long-term annual growth target of 50%.

  - Reuters