特斯拉的“小目標”,在中國年產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)還在忙於解決它在加利福尼亞州電動汽車工廠的生產問題，現在又面臨另一項重大挑戰：在中國建造一座龐大的新工廠和研發中心。

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.

該汽車製造商於週二表示，它已同中國當局達成協議，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劃投資多少，但表示自己將是唯一的所有者。其他外國汽車製造商，包括通用汽車(General Motors)、大衆汽車(Volkswagen)和豐田汽車(Toyota)，都被要求與當地合作伙伴組建合資企業，才能在中國生產汽車。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，它預期一旦獲得必要的批准和許可，就可以開始施工。該公司在一份聲明中表示，“從那時起，我們需要大約兩年的時間才能開始生產汽車，然後再用兩到三年實現全速生產。”

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 Oliver Wyman, 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.”

在中國建廠並非易事，其中最困難的一部分可能就是尋找高管來管理這項工作。奧緯諮詢(Oliver Wyman)的汽車製造專家羅恩·哈伯(Ron Harbour)表示，“他們正努力在加利福尼亞發展，那麼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行官埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)最新的一個高調推出的計劃，然而他的一些宏大設想遠未達到目標。

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 overreliance 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，馬斯克預測該公司位於加州弗裏蒙特的工廠到今年將生產近50萬輛汽車，但由於過度依賴自動化機械，以及遇到生產瓶頸，這一努力受到了阻礙。截至6月底，已交付或正在運輸中的汽車約有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動的半掛卡車，稱它將於2019年由特斯拉投產。這款卡車目前正在重新設計，沒有任何工廠宣佈計劃生產它。

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，特斯拉將爲其首款大衆市場產品Model 3轎車推出一個新版本，售價3.5萬美元。到目前爲止，這款轎車僅有的幾個版本售價都在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是該公司的關鍵車型。馬斯克表示，爲在今年下半年實現盈利，特斯拉需要能夠每週生產至少5千輛Model 3轎車。本月早些時候，特斯拉表示，在弗裏蒙特工廠外一個巨大的帳篷裏建立了一條新的生產線後，它在六月的最後一週達到了這個水平。

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虧損。最近幾個月，分析師們開始對其財務狀況和Model 3生產的緩慢進度感到擔心。穆迪投資者服務公司(Moody’s Investor Service)出於對特斯拉的現金消耗狀況的擔憂，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。作爲改善空氣質量和減少尾氣排放的一種措施，中國政府鼓勵電動汽車的生產和銷售，向其提供補貼。

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.

特斯拉於2013年開始在中國銷售汽車，在中國設立了35個銷售中心和1200個充電站。據調研公司LMC Automotive估計，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，它在上海的計劃將包括一個研發中心和一個銷售企業。當地政府表示，這將是上海歷史上最大的外商投資製造項目。

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.

特斯拉發言人表示，中國的工廠不會影響公司在美國的業務，特斯拉也不會迴應美中之間不斷升級的貿易爭端。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.

白宮與中國展開貿易戰，部分原因是爲了阻止美國公司將業務轉移到中國。美國政府稱，中國經常採用不公平的方法，鼓勵企業遷往中國，或迫使它們放棄或者與中國企業分享技術，以進入中國市場。

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.”

甚至在最近貿易緊張局勢升級之前，中國的關稅對特斯拉來說就是一個問題。“目前的規則讓事情變得非常困難，”馬斯克3月在Twitter上感嘆道，指的是中國對進口美國汽車徵收25%的關稅的決定。“這就像在奧運會上穿着鉛做的鞋子賽跑。”

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.

中國後來同意將關稅降低到15%，但在最近一次的報復行動中，關稅被提高到了40%。特斯拉新款Model S的價格上漲了約五分之一，達到近十三萬美元。

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.

中國領導人對空氣污染和國家越來越依賴外國石油的情況感到擔憂，支持電動車作爲可能的解決方案。特斯拉在中國的一家制造廠可能有助於北京在未來的電動車和其他技術生產中佔據全球優勢的努力，這是《中國製造2025》計劃中提出的願景。

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.

對於特斯拉來說，在中國製造電動車將使它免受貿易戰的影響，並使公司接近中國龐大的汽車供應鏈。更重要的是，這會在一個潛在的廣闊市場上爲該公司提供更堅實的立足點。中國是特斯拉僅次於美國的第二大市場；去年它在那裏的收入翻了一番，達到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製造商，但它們傾向於製造體積更小、價格更便宜的車，而這些車缺乏特斯拉產品的優雅精緻。美國製造的車在北京和上海一些較高檔的地區隨處可見。