特斯拉的“小目標(biāo)”,在中國年產(chǎn)50萬輛電動車

Still scrambling to sort out production problems at its electric car factory in California, Tesla is taking on another big challenge: building a vast new plant and development center in China.

特斯拉(Tesla)還在忙于解決它在加利福尼亞州電動汽車工廠的生產(chǎn)問題，現(xiàn)在又面臨另一項(xiàng)重大挑戰(zhàn)：在中國建造一座龐大的新工廠和研發(fā)中心。

The automaker said Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the Chinese authorities to build a battery and automobile factory in Shanghai — its first plant outside the United States — that would eventually be capable of producing 500,000 electric vehicles a year.

該汽車制造商于周二表示，它已同中國當(dāng)局達(dá)成協(xié)議，將在上海建造一座電池和汽車工廠——這是它在美國以外的第一家工廠——最終將每年能夠生產(chǎn)50萬輛電動汽車。

The company did not disclose how much it planned to invest in the venture, but it said it would be the sole owner. Other foreign automakers, including General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota, have been required to form joint ventures with local partners to produce cars in China. But the Chinese government recently said it would ease that requirement.

該公司沒有透露它計(jì)劃投資多少，但表示自己將是唯一的所有者。其他外國汽車制造商，包括通用汽車(General Motors)、大眾汽車(Volkswagen)和豐田汽車(Toyota)，都被要求與當(dāng)?shù)睾献骰锇榻M建合資企業(yè)，才能在中國生產(chǎn)汽車。但中國政府最近表示將放寬這一要求。

Tesla said it expected to begin construction as soon as it had obtained the necessary approvals and permits. “From there, it will take roughly two years until we start producing vehicles and then another two to three years before the factory is fully ramped up,” the company said in a statement.

特斯拉表示，它預(yù)期一旦獲得必要的批準(zhǔn)和許可，就可以開始施工。該公司在一份聲明中表示，“從那時(shí)起，我們需要大約兩年的時(shí)間才能開始生產(chǎn)汽車，然后再用兩到三年實(shí)現(xiàn)全速生產(chǎn)。”

Setting up a plant in China will not be easy, and one of the toughest parts may be finding executives to manage the effort, said Ron Harbour, at auto-manufacturing expert at OliverWyman, a consulting firm. “They are trying to get going in California, so who are they going to send overseas to do the same thing?” he said. “That is the question in my mind. You usually want to get it right at home first.”

在中國建廠并非易事，其中最困難的一部分可能就是尋找高管來管理這項(xiàng)工作。奧緯咨詢(Oliver Wyman)的汽車制造專家羅恩·哈伯(Ron Harbour)表示，“他們正努力在加利福尼亞發(fā)展，那么他們要派誰去海外做同樣的事情?”他說。“這是我的疑問。你一般會想先把國內(nèi)的事情弄好。”

The investment in China is the latest initiative that Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has announced with lofty ambitions, some of which he has fallen well short of achieving.

對中國的投資是特斯拉首席執(zhí)行官埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)最新的一個(gè)高調(diào)推出的計(jì)劃，然而他的一些宏大設(shè)想遠(yuǎn)未達(dá)到目標(biāo)。

Two years ago, Mr. Musk predicted that the company’s plant in Fremont, Calif., would churn out close to 500,000 cars by this year, but the effort has been hampered by over reliance on automated machinery and by production bottlenecks. By the end of June, about 40,000 had been delivered or were in transit.

兩年前，馬斯克預(yù)測該公司位于加州弗里蒙特的工廠到今年將生產(chǎn)近50萬輛汽車，但由于過度依賴自動化機(jī)械，以及遇到生產(chǎn)瓶頸，這一努力受到了阻礙。截至6月底，已交付或正在運(yùn)輸中的汽車約有4萬輛。

Last fall, he unveiled a battery-powered semi truck that he said Tesla would begin producing by the end of 2019. The truck is now being redesigned, and no plans have been announced for a factory to produce it.

去年秋天，他推出了一款電池驅(qū)動的半掛卡車，稱它將于2019年由特斯拉投產(chǎn)。這款卡車目前正在重新設(shè)計(jì)，沒有任何工廠宣布計(jì)劃生產(chǎn)它。

And Mr. Musk has also promised that Tesla would produce a version of its first mass-market offering, the Model 3 sedan, costing $35,000. So far, the only versions available sell for$49,000 and up.

馬斯克還承諾，特斯拉將為其首款大眾市場產(chǎn)品Model 3轎車推出一個(gè)新版本，售價(jià)3.5萬美元。到目前為止，這款轎車僅有的幾個(gè)版本售價(jià)都在4.9萬美元或以上。

The Model 3 is a critical vehicle for the company. Mr. Musk has said Tesla needs to be able to produce at least 5,000 Model 3 cars a week to become profitable in the second half of this year. Earlier this month, Tesla said it reached that level in the final week of June, after setting up a new assembly line in a giant tent just outside the Fremont plant.

Model 3是該公司的關(guān)鍵車型。馬斯克表示，為在今年下半年實(shí)現(xiàn)盈利，特斯拉需要能夠每周生產(chǎn)至少5千輛Model 3轎車。本月早些時(shí)候，特斯拉表示，在弗里蒙特工廠外一個(gè)巨大的帳篷里建立了一條新的生產(chǎn)線后，它在六月的最后一周達(dá)到了這個(gè)水平。

Tesla has reported losses every year since it was founded in 2003. In recent months, analysts have become worried about its finances and the slow pace of Model 3 production. Moody’s Investor Service downgraded Tesla’s credit rating over concerns about how much cash the company is using up.

特斯拉自2003年成立以來每年都報(bào)虧損。最近幾個(gè)月，分析師們開始對其財(cái)務(wù)狀況和Model 3生產(chǎn)的緩慢進(jìn)度感到擔(dān)心。穆迪投資者服務(wù)公司(Moody’s Investor Service)出于對特斯拉的現(xiàn)金消耗狀況的擔(dān)憂，降低了它的信用評級。

China is a key growth market for Tesla, and the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. The government there subsidizes and promotes the production and sale of electric cars as part of its efforts to improve air quality and cut tailpipe emissions.

中國是特斯拉的主要增長市場，也是全球最大的電動汽車市場。作為改善空氣質(zhì)量和減少尾氣排放的一種措施，中國政府鼓勵(lì)電動汽車的生產(chǎn)和銷售，向其提供補(bǔ)貼。

Tesla began selling cars in China in 2013 and has set up 35 sales centers and some 1,200 charging stations in the country. It sold about 15,000 cars there last year, according to estimates by LMC Automotive.

特斯拉于2013年開始在中國銷售汽車，在中國設(shè)立了35個(gè)銷售中心和1200個(gè)充電站。據(jù)調(diào)研公司LMCAutomotive估計(jì)，去年它在中國銷售了大約1.5萬輛汽車。

Tesla said its Shanghai-based initiative would include a research-and-development center and a sales operation. The local government said it would be the largest manufacturing project backed by foreign investment in Shanghai’s history.

特斯拉表示，它在上海的計(jì)劃將包括一個(gè)研發(fā)中心和一個(gè)銷售企業(yè)。當(dāng)?shù)卣硎?，這將是上海歷史上最大的外商投資制造項(xiàng)目。

A Tesla spokesman said the plant would not affect the company’s American operations and was not a response to the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China. But a Tesla factory in China is most likely not something the Trump administration wants to see.

特斯拉發(fā)言人表示，中國的工廠不會影響公司在美國的業(yè)務(wù)，特斯拉也不會回應(yīng)美中之間不斷升級的貿(mào)易爭端。但它在中國的工廠很可能不是特朗普政府希望看到的。

The White House began a trade fight with China partly to discourage American companies from shifting operations there. The administration has argued that China often uses unfair methods to either encourage companies to move there or force them to give up or share technology with Chinese companies in order to access its market.

白宮與中國展開貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)，部分原因是為了阻止美國公司將業(yè)務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)移到中國。美國政府稱，中國經(jīng)常采用不公平的方法，鼓勵(lì)企業(yè)遷往中國，或迫使它們放棄或者與中國企業(yè)分享技術(shù)，以進(jìn)入中國市場。

Even before the recent escalation in trade tensions, China’s tariffs were an issue for Tesla. “The current rules make things very difficult,” Mr. Musk lamented on Twitter in March about the 25 percent tariff on cars imported from the United States. “It’s like competing in an Olympic race wearing lead shoes.”

甚至在最近貿(mào)易緊張局勢升級之前，中國的關(guān)稅對特斯拉來說就是一個(gè)問題。“目前的規(guī)則讓事情變得非常困難，”馬斯克3月在Twitter上感嘆道，指的是中國對進(jìn)口美國汽車征收25%的關(guān)稅的決定。“這就像在奧運(yùn)會上穿著鉛做的鞋子賽跑。”

China later agreed to scale the tariffs back to 15 percent, but in the most recent tit-for-tat, they were raised to 40 percent. The price of a new Model S in China has risen by about one-fifth, to nearly $130,000.

中國后來同意將關(guān)稅降低到15%，但在最近一次的報(bào)復(fù)行動中，關(guān)稅被提高到了40%。特斯拉新款Model S的價(jià)格上漲了約五分之一，達(dá)到近十三萬美元。

Chinese leaders, worried about skies choked with pollution and the country’s growing dependence on foreign oil, have championed electric cars as a possible solution. A Tesla manufacturing plant in China could aid Beijing’s effort to take a strong global position in producing electric cars and other technologies of the future, a vision outlined in the Made in China 2025 plan.

中國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人對空氣污染和國家越來越依賴外國石油的情況感到擔(dān)憂，支持電動車作為可能的解決方案。特斯拉在中國的一家制造廠可能有助于北京在未來的電動車和其他技術(shù)生產(chǎn)中占據(jù)全球優(yōu)勢的努力，這是《中國制造2025》計(jì)劃中提出的愿景。

 

For Tesla, building cars in China would inoculate it against the effects of a trade fight and put the company close to China’s huge automotive supply chain. Even more important, it would provide a firmer foothold in a potentially vast market. China is the company’s second-largest market after the United States; its revenue there doubled to $2 billion last year.

對于特斯拉來說，在中國制造電動車將使它免受貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)的影響，并使公司接近中國龐大的汽車供應(yīng)鏈。更重要的是，這會在一個(gè)潛在的廣闊市場上為該公司提供更堅(jiān)實(shí)的立足點(diǎn)。中國是特斯拉僅次于美國的第二大市場;去年它在那里的收入翻了一番，達(dá)到20億美元。

China has a number of electric-car makers, but they tend to make smaller, more affordable vehicles that lack the polish of Tesla’s offerings. The American-made cars can frequently be seen in some of the more upscale areas of Beijing and Shanghai.

中國有許多電動汽車制造商，但它們傾向于制造體積更小、價(jià)格更便宜的車，而這些車缺乏特斯拉產(chǎn)品的優(yōu)雅精致。美國制造的車在北京和上海一些較高檔的地區(qū)隨處可見。