新闻周刊:马斯克的豪赌:特斯拉能为汽车制造带来革新吗?(5)

‘Ahead of the Industry’

“行业领先”

Musk¹ has amplified² the damage by becoming publicly defensive³, surly and just plain weird⁴.

马斯克变得更加公开地防御性、粗暴和怪异，从而放大了这种伤害。

But for all the bad press and unforced errors, Mr.Teflon and his company still have plenty of fans.

但尽管媒体对特富龙的负面报道和非迫不得已的失误，特富龙和他的公司仍有很多粉丝。

“Betting against Tesla is total stupidity,” says Trip Chowdhry, managing director of equity⁵ research at Global Equities⁶ Research.

“做空特斯拉完全是愚蠢的，”环球股票研究股票研究董事总经理特里?乔杜里表示。

“Show me any company in the world in any industry where people sign up for a $50,000 product without seeing it first.

“让我看看世界上任何一个行业的公司，在那里，人们注册了一款价值5万美元的产品，却没有首先看到它。”

Whether the company makes 5,000 cars a day this month or next quarter doesn’t matter;

这家公司这个月还是下个季度每天生产5000辆汽车并不重要;

it’s still 500 times ahead of the rest of the industry.”

它仍然比其他行业领先500倍。

Chowdhry notes that Tesla’s edge over the electric car competition includes better batteries, efficiency-boosting manufacturing software and the cost advantage of direct sales without dealers⁷ or advertising⁸, as well as a national network of high-speed charging stations.

乔杜里指出，特斯拉在电动汽车竞争中的优势包括更好的电池、提高效率的制造软件、无需经销商或广告的直接销售的成本优势，以及一个全国性的高速充电站网络。

Oppenheimer’s Rusch has a more mixed view of the company’s prospects⁹ but agrees it can raise whatever cash it needs to allow it to keep going for at least a few more years.

奥本海默公司的鲁西对公司前景的看法较为复杂，但他也认为，公司可以筹集到至少在未来几年继续经营下去所需的资金。

Musk is lauded¹⁰ for his engineering prowess and vision, for good reason.

马斯克因其高超的工程技术和远见卓识而备受赞誉，这是有充分理由的。

But his ability to inspire enough confidence to attract massive investment may be his greatest advantage over major -competitors.

但他有能力激发足够的信心，吸引大量投资，这可能是相对竞争对手最大的优势。

“If Mercedes-Benz owned Tesla, the board would get impatient and pull the plug on it after it spent a few billion dollars,” says Noah Kindler¹¹, an executive at hot Silicon¹² Valley electric vehicle startup Evelozcity.

“如果梅塞德斯-奔驰拥有特斯拉，董事会就会失去耐心，在花了数十亿美元后就会叫停它，”硅谷热门电动汽车初创公司Evelozcity的高管诺亚·金德勒表示。

And there are competitors.

还有很多竞争对手。

Jaguar¹³ Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata Motors, is about to roll out the Jaguar I-Pace, an electric luxury-performance car that early reviewers suggest may be a real contender in the high-end electric vehicle market.

印度塔塔汽车旗下的捷豹路虎即将推出捷豹I-Pace，这是一款电动豪华车，早期评论家认为它可能是高端电动汽车市场的真正竞争者。

Volvo’s hybrid¹⁴ and electric vehicle division, called Polestar, has also reportedly been readying an impressive all-electric car.

据报道，沃尔沃的混合动力和电动汽车部门“北极星”也准备推出一款令人印象深刻的纯电动汽车。

Still, none has come close to garnering¹⁵ the attention and excitement of Tesla products.

不过，迄今为止，还没有一家公司能像特斯拉的产品那样引人注目，让人兴奋不已。

Sales of the company’s luxury models look solid: It delivered 50,000 of its pricey Models S (starting MSRP: $74,500) and X ($79,500) in the U.S. last year.

该公司豪华车型的销量看起来很不错:去年，该公司在美国交付了5万辆昂贵的S(起价为74500美元)和X(79,500美元)。

And when the Model 3 production got off to a rocky start, the company responded at warp¹⁶ speed to fix a raft of manufacturing glitches—Musk led the effort himself (sleeping on the factory floor).

当Model 3的生产一开始遇到困难时，公司以惊人的速度修复了大量的制造故障——马斯克亲自领导了这项工作(睡在工厂的地板上)。

It is now producing the Model 3 sedan at an impressive rate of 6,000 a week;

目前，该公司正在以每周6000辆的惊人速度生产Model 3轿车;

the company claims it will deliver 100,000 by the end of this year.

该公司声称将在今年年底前交付10万辆。

Musk’s defenders¹⁷ are confident he’ll overcome his current troubles.

穆斯克的辩护律师相信他能克服目前的困难。

“Even if Musk can’t do it in the time frame he talks about, he’ll do it within five years,” says Jason Freedman, a highly regarded Silicon Valley insider who just sold his third startup.

“即使马斯克不能在他所说的时间框架内做到这一点，他也会在五年内做到，”备受推崇的硅谷内部人士贾森·弗里德曼表示。

“People shouldn’t pay attention to his debt or schedule; they should just pay attention to the quality of his product.

“人们不应该关注他的债务或时间表;他们应该只注意他产品的质量。

The pace of innovation of a Musk company is way ahead of anyone else.”

马斯克的创新步伐遥遥领先于其他人。

Tesla recently struck a deal to manufacture 500,000 cars a year within three years in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market.

特斯拉最近与中国达成协议，将在三年内每年生产50万辆汽车。中国是全球最大的电动汽车市场。

A European plant won’t be far behind, the company says.

该公司表示，欧洲的工厂也不会远远落后。

1 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

2 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

3 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

4 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 equities   

普通股，股票

参考例句：

• These are invested mainly in the OECD bonds and equities. 这些资产主要投资于经济合作及发展组织的债券与股票市场。
• They are also advantage of the global rebound in equities. 它们还在利用全球股市反弹的机会。

7 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

8 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

9 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

10 lauded   

v.称赞，赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They lauded the former president as a hero. 他们颂扬前总统为英雄。 来自辞典例句
• The nervy feats of the mountaineers were lauded. 登山者有勇气的壮举受到赞美。 来自辞典例句

11 kindler   

[人名] 金德勒

参考例句：

• One of them is Jeffrey Kindler, the chairman of Pfizer. 辉瑞公司的主席杰弗里·金德勒(JeffreyKindler)就是其中的一位。
• So why did Mr Kindler take the plunge? 那么，金德勒到底为什么要冒这个险呢？

12 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

13 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

14 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

15 garnering   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• And at the forefront was Bryant, garnering nothing but praise from his coaches and teammates. 而站在最前沿的就是科比，他也因此获得了教练和队友的赞美。 来自互联网

16 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。

17 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》