SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Tesla's strategy in China of real-time, aggressive management of its sales staff is giving its stores an edge over dealerships offering BYD and other brands in the world's largest auto market, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The U.S. company in the fourth quarter lost its crown as the world's biggest electric vehicle seller to China's BYD , but during the first 10 months of 2023 both companies grew their share of a slowing and highly competitive Chinese EV market.

Tesla (TSLA.O) sold more than 1,500 EVs in each of its Chinese stores on average in the first 10 months of 2023, up from 1,300 in 2022, data from China Merchants Bank International (CMBI) showed.

BYD in comparison sold under 600 cars per store in the same 2023 period including plug-in hybrids, similar to its 2022 performance, although overall it sold far more EVs than Tesla given its best-selling models cost half as much and it has 11 times as many local distributors.