(Yicai Global) Dec. 24 -- Electric carmaker Tesla has slashed its China prices for the third time in a month as it looks to combat allegedly falling sales.

The California-based firm has cut the price of Model 3 versions by 5.9 percent and 7.6 percent, state-backed news site The Paper reported yesterday. Pre-purchases for the long-range, dual motor version of the car have fallen to CNY499,000 (USD72,210) from CNY540,000, while the performance spec model is now CNY560,000, down from CNY595,000.

The price cut was a temporary change made to suit China's short-term tariff adjustment on cars imported from the United States, The Paper said, quoting messages that some pre-sale purchasers received from Tesla.

In late November, Tesla cut its Model S prices by 12 percent (75D and 100D) and 26 percent (P100D), and earlier this month it reduced the price of certain Model S and Model X versions. The entry-level Model S 75D now retails at CNY742,300 -- down 16.4 percent from the CNY887,600 price tag a month earlier.

Tesla sold just 3,169 vehicles in China in the third quarter, down 37 percent, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association this month, which Tesla refuted without giving its own figures. The CPCA also claimed the company sold just 211 cars in October.

The Model 3 was Tesla's attempt at producing a cost-effective electric car that could break into the mass market, and once production hits full swing it hopes to sell the vehicle for USD35,000 in the US. But the China price tag was much higher than expectations and has failed to spark interest in the world's largest auto market, which is on track this year for its first decline since the 1990s.

The firm is likely to bring the Chinese price down once it starts building the Model 3 at its first ever non-US factory, which is currently under construction in Shanghai -- and buyers are hanging tight for a China-made model rather than splurging on an imported version of the car.

Editor: James Boynton