埃隆·馬斯克爲特斯拉勾勒新版宏偉藍圖
Elon Musk, head of Tesla Motors, has sketched out a lofty and futuristic vision for his electric car company, as he sought to regain the initiative after recent setbacks to some of his most ambitious plans.
特斯拉汽車(Tesla Motors)董事長埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)爲其電動汽車公司勾勒了崇高而充滿未來色彩的圖景。在部分最大膽計劃近期遭遇挫折之後，他試圖藉此舉重新獲得主動性。
Writing on his company’s blog, Mr Musk on Wednesday laid out what he described as an update to the Tesla “master plan” he first published 10 years ago. It will involve Tesla expanding to make a full range of electric cars, buses and trucks, as well as a smartphone app through which Tesla owners will one day earn money by renting out their self-driving cars.
週三，馬斯克在其公司博客上列出了他稱之爲特斯拉“總體規劃”更新版的內容。特斯拉“總體規劃”由他首次於十年前發佈。這一更新版將令特斯拉向生產電動汽車、電動公交和電動卡車全系列產品擴張，還包括一個智能手機應用，特斯拉汽車所有者將從某日起可以通過該應用出租其自動駕駛汽車賺錢。
Though much of the plan was vague, echoing Mr Musk’s habit of teasing new ideas long before they come into production, he did reveal that Tesla was in the “early stages of development” on heavy-duty trucks and a new form of “high passenger-density urban transport”, with both likely to be unveiled next year.
該計劃多數內容仍不夠明確，重現了馬斯克會將新創意炒作許久再投入生產的習慣。儘管如此，他確實披露特斯拉處於“開發”重型卡車和一種新形式“高乘客密度市政交通工具的早期階段”，兩者都可能於明年公佈。
With its characteristic mix of vagueness, ambition and self-defensiveness, Mr Musk’s sketch for a 10-year plan looked set to draw a sceptical reaction at a time when Tesla is facing mounting challenges.
馬斯克行文的特色是將含糊不清、野心勃勃和自我防備混爲一爐，在這個特斯拉面臨挑戰越來越大的時節，他對十年計劃的描繪似乎註定會引起人們的懷疑。
“As is typical, Elon Musk has laid out a grandiose plan for the future with no time frames and few specifics, and no mention of how and when Tesla will be profitable,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Autotrader, a US car magazine.
美國汽車雜誌Autotrader高級分析師米歇爾•克雷布斯(Michelle Krebs)表示：“和往常一樣，埃隆•馬斯克排出了宏偉的計劃，卻沒有列出時間表和給出多少具體細節，也沒提到特斯拉將如何盈利及何時盈利。”
Wednesday’s blog post came a month after Mr Musk ran into a wall of scepticism with an offer to buy SolarCity, the solar panel installation company of which he is chairman, for Tesla stock worth up to $3bn. Investors worried it would distract the company at a critical time, as it struggles to fix nagging production problems and accelerate a move to mass production of its next vehicle, the Model 3, by two years.
就在週三的博客文章發出一個月前，馬斯克曾提出以價值總計30億美元的特斯拉股票收購SolarCity的收購要約，引起了許多人的懷疑。SolarCity是一家太陽能電池板安裝公司，馬斯克是該公司董事長。投資者擔心，在特斯拉竭力消除持續不斷的生產問題並加速向下一款車型Model 3的大規模生產轉型之際，馬斯克此舉會在關鍵時期把該公司注意力分散兩年時間。
