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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)还在忙于解决它在加利福尼亚州电动汽车工厂的生产问题，现在又面临另一项重大挑战：在中国建造一座庞大的新工厂和研发中心。
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.
该汽车制造商于周二表示，它已同中国当局达成协议，将在上海建造一座电池和汽车工厂——这是它在美国以外的第一家工厂——最终将每年能够生产50万辆电动汽车。
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.
该公司没有透露它计划投资多少，但表示自己将是唯一的所有者。其他外国汽车制造商，包括通用汽车(General Motors)、大众汽车(Volkswagen)和丰田汽车(Toyota)，都被要求与当地合作伙伴组建合资企业，才能在中国生产汽车。但中国政府最近表示将放宽这一要求。
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，它预期一旦获得必要的批准和许可，就可以开始施工。该公司在一份声明中表示，“从那时起，我们需要大约两年的时间才能开始生产汽车，然后再用两到三年实现全速生产。”
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.”
在中国建厂并非易事，其中最困难的一部分可能就是寻找高管来管理这项工作。奥纬咨询(Oliver Wyman)的汽车制造专家罗恩·哈伯(Ron Harbour)表示，“他们正努力在加利福尼亚发展，那么他们要派谁去海外做同样的事情？”他说。“这是我的疑问。你一般会想先把国内的事情弄好。”
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.
对中国的投资是特斯拉首席执行官埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)最新的一个高调推出的计划，然而他的一些宏大设想远未达到目标。
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.
两年前，马斯克预测该公司位于加州弗里蒙特的工厂到今年将生产近50万辆汽车，但由于过度依赖自动化机械，以及遇到生产瓶颈，这一努力受到了阻碍。截至6月底，已交付或正在运输中的汽车约有4万辆。
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，他推出了一款电池驱动的半挂卡车，称它将于2019年由特斯拉投产。这款卡车目前正在重新设计，没有任何工厂宣布计划生产它。
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.
马斯克还承诺，特斯拉将为其首款大众市场产品Model 3轿车推出一个新版本，售价3.5万美元。到目前为止，这款轿车仅有的几个版本售价都在4.9万美元或以上。
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是该公司的关键车型。马斯克表示，为在今年下半年实现盈利，特斯拉需要能够每周生产至少5千辆Model 3轿车。本月早些时候，特斯拉表示，在弗里蒙特工厂外一个巨大的帐篷里建立了一条新的生产线后，它在六月的最后一周达到了这个水平。
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年成立以来每年都报亏损。最近几个月，分析师们开始对其财务状况和Model 3生产的缓慢进度感到担心。穆迪投资者服务公司(Moody’s Investor Service)出于对特斯拉的现金消耗状况的担忧，降低了它的信用评级。
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.
中国是特斯拉的主要增长市场，也是全球最大的电动汽车市场。作为改善空气质量和减少尾气排放的一种措施，中国政府鼓励电动汽车的生产和销售，向其提供补贴。
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.
特斯拉于2013年开始在中国销售汽车，在中国设立了35个销售中心和1200个充电站。据调研公司LMC Automotive估计，去年它在中国销售了大约1.5万辆汽车。
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，它在上海的计划将包括一个研发中心和一个销售企业。当地政府表示，这将是上海历史上最大的外商投资制造项目。
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.
特斯拉发言人表示，中国的工厂不会影响公司在美国的业务，特斯拉也不会回应美中之间不断升级的贸易争端。但它在中国的工厂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.
白宫与中国展开贸易战，部分原因是为了阻止美国公司将业务转移到中国。美国政府称，中国经常采用不公平的方法，鼓励企业迁往中国，或迫使它们放弃或者与中国企业分享技术，以进入中国市场。
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.”
甚至在最近贸易紧张局势升级之前，中国的关税对特斯拉来说就是一个问题。“目前的规则让事情变得非常困难，”马斯克3月在Twitter上感叹道，指的是中国对进口美国汽车征收25%的关税的决定。“这就像在奥运会上穿着铅做的鞋子赛跑。”
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.
中国后来同意将关税降低到15%，但在最近一次的报复行动中，关税被提高到了40%。特斯拉新款Model S的价格上涨了约五分之一，达到近十三万美元。
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.
中国领导人对空气污染和国家越来越依赖外国石油的情况感到担忧，支持电动车作为可能的解决方案。特斯拉在中国的一家制造厂可能有助于北京在未来的电动车和其他技术生产中占据全球优势的努力，这是《中国制造2025》计划中提出的愿景。
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.
对于特斯拉来说，在中国制造电动车将使它免受贸易战的影响，并使公司接近中国庞大的汽车供应链。更重要的是，这会在一个潜在的广阔市场上为该公司提供更坚实的立足点。中国是特斯拉仅次于美国的第二大市场；去年它在那里的收入翻了一番，达到20亿美元。
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.
中国有许多电动汽车制造商，但它们倾向于制造体积更小、价格更便宜的车，而这些车缺乏特斯拉产品的优雅精致。美国制造的车在北京和上海一些较高档的地区随处可见。
