(Reuters) - Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) overall vehicle registrations nearly halved in the U.S. state of California during the fourth quarter, according to a Dominion Cross-Sell report, which collates data from state motor vehicle records.

The massive drop comes as tax credit for Tesla buyers ended in 2019. It had fallen to $3,750 at the start of the year and had halved to $1,875 in July.

An existing $7,500 U.S. tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs), which allows taxpayers to deduct a part of the cost of buying an electric car, phases out over 15 months once an automaker hits 200,000 cumulative EV sales, which Tesla hit in July 2018.

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The report released on Wednesday showed registrations in California, a bellwether market for the electric-car maker, plummeted 46.5% to 13,584 in the quarter ended December 2019, from 25,402 in the same period a year earlier.

Model 3 registrations, which accounted for about three-fourth of the total, halved to 10,694.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

FILE PHOTO: Tesla logo is pictured on an electric car at Brussels Motor Show, Belgium, January 9, 2020. Reuters/Francois Lenoir

"One can assume that Tesla has hit peak performance in the U.S. because they have not exceeded their 2018 results for five months now," said Shane Marcum, vice-president of Cross-Sell.

The new data comes nearly two weeks after Tesla beat Wall Street estimates for annual vehicle deliveries and met the low-end of its own target, sending shares to a record high in a vindication for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk after a few turbulent years.