通用汽车为何要密切关注特斯拉

    这要放在以前通用汽车（General Motors）还没破产的时候，肯定没有哪个称职的高管会去效仿或称赞特斯拉公司（Tesla）推出的Model S电动轿车，不然也太看得起这家小公司及其自以为是的创始人埃伦•穆斯克了。

    通用汽车首席执行官丹•艾克森并不是底特律汽车人出身。他来自私募资本，加入通用汽车的目的在于改造底特律巨人的傲慢性格并带领公司走出泥潭。根据电池选择的不同，特斯拉Model S单次充电后续航里程最长可达265英里，这吸引了艾克森的注意。要知道，通用汽车推出的“长程”电动车雪佛兰沃蓝达（Chevrolet Volt），其充电后最多也就能跑50英里。

    通用汽车的高管们非常关注新电池技术，他们表示通用电动车的续航里程有望突破200英里。虽然该公司并未透露更多相关信息，但艾克森暗示电动版卡迪拉克 EV或将成为Model S的竞争对手。

    另一方面，艾克森无疑也对特斯拉令人瞠目的股价上涨速度颇为关注。虽然特斯拉在2010年IPO时发行价还不到20美元，但如今已如坐火箭般暴涨至每股180美元。目前其市值高达220亿美元，比菲亚特汽车（Fiat）还高。

    通用汽车目前市值——即用流通股本数乘以股价——超过550亿美元。通用汽车的全球销量约为每年900万部。而截至今年8月，特斯拉总共也就售出了11,000辆Model S汽车。这款车型起售价为7万美元，旗舰型的售价超过10万美元。特斯拉的股价可能已经严重被高估，但也有可能穆斯克将成为下一个史蒂夫•乔布斯或者是比尔•盖茨，到那时，那些没眼力的人可就追悔莫及了。这类人中显然不包括艾克森。

    和乔布斯、盖茨不同，穆斯克完成了大学学业。不过，在自主创业仅仅两天后，他毅然放弃了应用物理学博士的攻读。艾克森则念完了美国海军学院的硕士学位。

    穆斯克是Paypal的联合创始人，并因此大赚了一笔，随后，他又成功的发射了一艘火箭，并顺利的与国际空间站实现对接。因此，当他投身汽车领域时，立刻就赢得了信任。更令人敬畏的是，Model S不仅获得了用户的交口称赞，《消费者报告》（Consumer Reports）等评论机构也对其赞不绝口。

    电动汽车目前仍是极其小众产品，原因主要在于电池昂贵、续航太短而且汽油价格仍处低位。不过，情况正在改变。电池技术甚是热门，正吸引着越来越多的风险投资和创新性人才，他们早晚会在降低成本同时提升电池容量上取得重大突破。

    不过特斯拉在股市上的风光恐怕难以长久，因为该公司超过四分之一的股票暂借给了做空者。这帮人专门出售自己并不持有的股票，以期日后以更低的价格回购该股票。但通用汽车的艾克森显然不是这群看空埃伦•穆斯克的人之一。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航 

    In the bad old pre-bankruptcy days, no General Motors executive worth his or her salt would have dignified tiny Tesla Motors Inc. or its brash founder Elon Musk by emulating or praising the automaker's battery-powered Model S.

    Dan Akerson, GM's (GM) chief executive officer, isn't an old-line Detroit auto executive. He's the guy, recruited from the private-equity world, who was put in charge of stamping out GM's arrogance and putting the auto giant back on its feet. What's gotten his attention is the Tesla Model S's range of up to 265 miles -- depending on battery option -- on a single charge. That compares with GM's Chevrolet Volt, an extended-range electric vehicle that travels about 50 miles before it must recharge.

    GM executives have been working on new battery technology that they say will give future electric vehicles a range of 200 miles. The automaker isn't describing the vehicle precisely, though Akerson has hinted that a future Cadillac EV is a probable competitor to the Model S.

    Akerson no doubt is also watching the eye-popping performance of Tesla's stock. Since its initial public offering in the summer of 2010, when shares were trading at less than $20 each, Tesla (TSLA) has rocketed to more than $180 a share. With a market capitalization of about $22 billion, it's worth more than Fiat. (Anyone who has driven some of Fiat's less successful models won't be shocked.)

    GM's market capitalization -- number of outstanding shares multiplied by the stock price -- is more than $55 billion. GM sells about 9 million vehicles annually worldwide. Tesla had sold a grand total of 11,000 units of Model S through August. The car starts at about $70,000; the fanciest version costs more than $100,000. Tesla's share price could be wildly overblown -- or Musk might be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, and those who don't realize it will be kicking themselves one day. Akerson won't be in that group.

    Unlike Jobs and Gates, Musk did finish his undergraduate education. But he dropped out of a Ph.D. program in applied physics after just two days to be an entrepreneur. Akerson is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

    Having already made a fortune as a co-founder of Paypal and succeeded in launching a rocket ship that docked with the International Space Station, Musk brings instant credibility to the automobile business. He's even more formidable because the Model S has been widely praised by owners and reviewers like Consumer Reports.

    Electric vehicles remain a very small sliver of the automotive market, mostly because the batteries are expensive, range is limited, and gasoline remains affordable. Things change. Battery technology is attracting more investment capital and creative minds all the time; a major breakthrough in the amount of energy a battery can store at a reasonable cost could occur at any time.

    Tesla stock, on the other hand, might be a short-lived bubble. More than a quarter of its shares are on loan to short-sellers, those who sell shares they don't own with the hope of repurchasing and replacing them later at a lower price. GM's Akerson surely isn't one of those selling Elon Musk short.