特斯拉的中国梦遭遇难题

    特斯拉公司（Tesla）创始人、已是亿万富翁的埃隆•穆斯克今年春天在北京宣布，公司计划于未来3-4年内在中国生产汽车。在一些观察家看来，这个计划极具野心，甚至有些鲁莽。

    专家们的意见主要集中于两点。首先，特斯拉想要在中国生产和销售汽车，必须先与一家中国制造商成立合资公司。众所周知，中国政府的政策偏向合资公司中中国的那一方，特斯拉可能因此被迫与中国合作方分享一些有价值的商业机密，或者至少要做出一些对自身不利的决策。

    其二，怀疑论者指出，特斯拉必须从零开始，在中国建设一个充电网络。而这一点也要求成立合资公司，同时还要得到中国政府的支持。如果中国政府决定支持某一类型的充电站，而不是支持特斯拉，他们可以轻易做到，从而迫使特斯拉在一个不确定的市场花费几亿、甚至几十亿美元。

    距离穆斯克宣布在中国生产汽车之后还不到三个月，中国政府就更改了一项法规。这一点表明，特斯拉想要在中国发展，路途还很漫长。

    据彭博新闻社（Bloomberg News）报道，中国一个国家级研究中心意图批准中国所有类型的公司——而不只是获得授权的汽车公司——生产电动汽车。实际上，他们是想在特斯拉开始在中国生产汽车之前，进一步鼓励中国汽车公司向特斯拉发起竞争。

    这个消息最直接的意义是，曾经买下破产的美国菲斯克汽车公司（Fisker Automotive）的万象集团（Wanxiang Group）将获得授权，竭尽全力与特斯拉抗衡。苹果公司（Apple）供应商富士康科技集团（Foxconn Technology Group）也表明，它已经开始进军电动汽车领域。

    特斯拉在中国面临的挑战正应了一句古话：“天下没有免费的午餐”。今年早些时候，埃隆•穆斯克在上海与一些有意向的政府官员举行了会面，同时借有可能与特斯拉合作建设充电站的两家国有电力公司抬高了自己的身价。这些听起来似乎是好消息，但其中没有明说的一点是，特斯拉为了在中国生产汽车可能需要放弃一些东西。

    关键技术和关键人才是特斯拉之所以成为特斯拉的核心，而中国方面想得到的也正是这些。要想在中国市场获利，特斯拉可能需要对这些予以割让，至少是割让其中一部分。

    更改法规的消息加剧了竞争，但特斯拉面临的更大挑战是：中国竞争对手获取它的技术。

    《财富》杂志5月份的一篇文章写道：

    “想象一下：中国的汽车公司开始模仿特斯拉的电池创新，然后以比特斯拉低得多的价格出售电动汽车。对此特斯拉很可能将无计可施。”

    中国市场向更多的特斯拉竞争对手开放，这或许是针对埃隆•穆斯克和他的高科技汽车公司的第一项举动。而之后，特斯拉还将面临更多挑战。（财富中文网）

    译者：朱毓芬/汪皓

    Tesla’s plan to build cars in China in three to four years struck some observers as hugely ambitious—even a bit reckless— when founder and billionaire Elon Musk announced the intentions this spring in Beijing.

    Experts focused on two points. First, that Tesla has to form a joint venture with a Chinese manufacturer before it can sell Chinese-made cars in China. Because the Chinese government’s rules notoriously favor the home team in a joint-venture, Tesla might be forced to give up valuable trade secrets or at least make decisions that aren’t in its favor.

    Second, skeptics pointed out, Tesla must build a charging network in China from scratch that also requires joint ventures and government support. If the Chinese government decides to favor one type of charging station over Tesla’s, they can easily do so and force Tesla to spend hundreds of millions, even billions, on an uncertain market.

    Barely three months after Musk’s announcement, a government rule change in China shows the long road Tesla faces in China.

    Bloomberg News reported that a state-run research center wants to allow any types of Chinese companies to produce electric-vehicles— not just automakers licensed to do so. They want, in effect, to supercharge Chinese competition against Tesla before it starts producing its cars in the country.

    Most directly, the news means that Wanxiang Group, the Chinese company that bought the bankrupt Fisker Automotive in the U.S., would have license to charge full-bore against Tesla. Foxconn Technology Group, the Apple-supplier, also said it’s getting into electric cars.

    Tesla’s challenge in China follows the old axiom: ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ Though it sounded like good news when Elon Musk met receptive government officials in Shanghai earlier this year and name-dropped two state-owned power companies that Tesla might cooperate with to build charging stations, left unsaid was what Tesla might give up to build cars in China.

    Key technology, key people, the core of what makes a Tesla a Tesla—it’s what China wants and likely what Tesla will need to cede, at least partially, to make the China market a profitable endeavor.

    News of the rule change increases competition, but it doesn’t address the bigger challenge Tesla faces: Chinese competitors gaining its technology.

    As Fortune wrote in May,

    “You can imagine a scenario where Chinese companies start emulating Tesla’s battery innovations and then sell their vehicles for much less than Tesla’s sticker price. Tesla would likely have little recourse.”

    News of China’s market opening to more Tesla competitors may be the first of many moves challenging Elon Musk and his high-tech automaker.