(Yicai) Sept. 1 -- Tesla has slashed the price of the rear-wheel-drive version of its longer-range Model 3 in China, less than a month after releasing the vehicle.

The price of the Model 3 Long Range RWD, launched on Aug. 12, fell to CNY259,500 from CNY269,500 today (USD36,390 from USD37,795) according to Tesla's Chinese website.

The Model 3 Long Range RWD has a range of 830 kilometers under the China Automotive Test Cycle testing standard, making it Tesla's longest-range vehicle. The US automaker sold 5,200 units in its first seven days after launching the car, ranking it eighth in the country, before falling out of the top 30 in its second week.

Tesla's China sales are mainly driven by the Model Y, which sold 177,000 units over the past six months and ranked third among all vehicles. In comparison, Model 3 sales reached only 94,000 units, ranking it 18th.

Tesla faces fierce competition in the Chinese market, with its sales falling 6.3 percent to 304,000 units in the seven months ended July 31 from a year ago, the biggest drop among the top 10 new energy vehicle makers, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. The average sales of the top 10 manufacturers soared 34 percent.

Tesla's performance drop is not limited to the Chinese market, with its first-half global deliveries tumbling 13 percent to 720,800 units from a year earlier, a second straight quarter with a double-digit decline.

In addition, sales of pure electric vehicles in the European Union soared 39 percent in July from a year ago, but Tesla sales fell to 6,600 units from 11,465 units, declining for the seventh consecutive month, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev