且看特斯拉該何去何從
Plugging away迎難而上
As Tesla』s share pricefalls, it becomes an inviting takeover target
隨著股價走低，特斯拉可能會變成收購標靶
There is no shortage of possible suitors, ranging fromtech firms or other carmakers to Elon Musk』s own private rocket firm
潛在買家從科技公司到汽車廠商，甚至埃隆馬斯克自己的火箭公司
May 24th 2018
A RECENT tweet from Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, anelectric-car firm, shows footage of a Model X undergoing rollover testing. TheSUV is propelled rapidly sideways on a trolley before encountering a sand trapthat stops it suddenly, tipping the car. The Tesla teeters between ending up onits roof or settling back on its wheels. It is an apt metaphor for a firmhovering between fulfilling its promise and succumbing to financial woes.
最近，電動汽車公司特斯拉(Tesla)的老闆埃隆?馬斯克(Elon Musk)在推特上發布了一段視頻，視頻中Model X（純電動）車型正在進行翻車測試。這款越野車在一輛有軌電車一側快速行進，然後在遇到一個沙坑時突然停下來，把車給掀翻了。這輛特斯拉在車頂著地和車輪著地之間搖擺不定。就好像特斯拉目前的狀況，在履行承諾和屈服於財務困境之間徘徊。
oPluggingaway 堅持不懈地做（尤指困難的工作）
osuitor |?su:t?(r)| 有意收購另一公司的公司
ofootage |?f?t?d?| （影片中的）連續鏡頭，片段
orollover |?r??l??v?(r); 美?ro?lo?v?r| 翻車;翻船;傾翻
opropel |pr??pel|推進；推
osideways |?sa?dwe?z| 往（或向、從）一側
otrolley |?tr?li; 美?trɑ:li|台車
oencounter |?n?ka?nt?(r)|遇到，遭遇
otip |t?p| （使）傾斜，傾倒，翻覆
oteeter |?ti:t?(r)| 搖晃；蹣跚行走；踉蹌；搖搖欲墜
ometaphor |?met?f?(r)| 暗喻；隱喻
ohover |?h?v?(r); 美?h?v?r| （價格、價值、分數等）上下波動左右搖擺
osuccumb |s??k?m| 屈服；屈從；抵擋不住（攻擊、疾病、誘惑等）
In April Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley, a bank, said thenext three months would be the 「mostcritical time in Tesla』s history」 since launching its upmarket Model S six years ago. The move from aniche in expensive electric cars to bringing battery power to the masses hasbeen troublesome, to say the least. The firm had once hoped to be making 10,000of its cheaper Model 3s a week by the end of 2018. But difficulties with ahighly automated production line mean that just over 2,000 are rolling out ofthe factory each week. Even a revised goal of 5,000 looks distant.
今年4月，摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)的亞當?喬納斯(Adam Jonas)表示，自6年前推出高端車型Model S以來，未來3個月將是「特斯拉有史以來最關鍵的時期」。最起碼，從生產價格不菲的電動汽車這樣一個大好市場轉向為大眾提供電池動力困難重重。特斯拉曾希望到2018年底，每周能生產1萬台價格較便宜的Model 3s。但由於高度自動化的生產線存在困難，實際每周僅生產了2000輛。即便是後來將目標修正為5000個，看起來也遙不可及。
oupmarket |??p?mɑ:k?t; 美 -?mɑ:rk-|高檔的；高級的
oniche |ni:?; n?t?; 美 n?t?; ni:?| （產品的）商機；市場定位
othe masses 群眾；平民百姓
As a result, cash is draining away. So are top executives.Around 20 have departed since the start of 2017. Crashes involving the firm』s Autopilot self-driving system have putdents in its reputation. It all appears to be weighing on Mr Musk. On May 2nd,in a peculiar earnings call, he dismissed sensible questions from Wall Streetanalysts about production problems and cash burn as 「dry」, and labelled one analyst asking about Tesla』s need to raise money a 「boring bonehead」.
結果，特斯拉的現金和高管一起流失。自2017年初以來，約有20位高管離開了特斯拉。自動駕駛系統的事故使公司聲譽受損。所有這些似乎都給馬斯克帶來了壓力。5月2日，在一次特別的財報電話會議上，來自華爾街的分析師提出了有關生產和燒錢的合理問題，他卻認為這些問題「沒有價值「而拒絕回答，並稱那位詢問特斯拉是否需要籌集資金的分析師是「無聊的笨蛋」。
odrain |dre?n| 流走，流出
odent |dent| 凹痕；凹坑；凹部 a dent in sth 減少，削減（尤指資金）
oweigh onsb/sth 加重…的思想負擔；使焦慮不安；使擔憂
opeculiar |p??kju:li?(r)| 怪異的；奇怪的；不尋常的
oearningscalls 財報會議
odismiss |d?s?m?s| 不予考慮；摒棄；對…不屑一提
olabel |?le?bl| （尤指不公正地）把…稱為
obonehead |?b??nhed; 美?bo?n-| 笨蛋；傻瓜
The stream of bad news has hit Tesla』s shares, which have fallen by 28% fromtheir peak in September 2017. Several stock analysts reckon the firm will soon runout of cash and will need to raise another $2bn or more this year. GoldmanSachs, a bank, goes further, estimating that introducing new products such asthe Model Y, a smaller SUV, and an electric lorry, together with refinancingdebt, will require raising $10bn by 2020. The bank adds that its productionproblems could see Tesla』s shares slide by around athird over the next six months.
一連串的壞消息衝擊了特斯拉的股價，其現在的股價較2017年9月的峰值下跌了28%。據一些股票分析師估計，不久，特斯拉將耗盡現金，今年還需要再籌集20億美元。高盛銀行(Goldman Sachs)則進一步估計，到2020年，特斯拉需要籌集100億美元的資金用於再融資債務和推出新產品，如Model Y、小型SUV、電動卡車。高盛還補充到，特斯拉的生產問題可能導致其股價在未來6個月間下滑約三分之一。
oshare |?e?(r); 美?er| 股份
oGoldmanSachs 高盛
olorry |?l?ri; 美?l?:ri|卡車；貨運汽車
oslide |sla?d| 逐漸降低；貶值
Tesla is still more valuable than Ford, but if the slumpcontinues it could become an inviting target. The question then is, for whom?An existing carmaker could put right Tesla』s difficulties in churning out Model 3s to satisfy the more than450,000 people who have put down a deposit. A few years ago, before Tesla』s share price soared, rumours circulated of a bid from one of theGerman premium carmakers. But now all of them have competing cars in the works.A mass-market firm which has made less progress on electrification, such asFiat Chrysler Automobiles (whose chairman, John Elkann, sits on the board ofThe Economist』s parent company), might be interested ifthe price were sufficiently low.
和福特比起來，特斯拉仍然更勝一籌，但如果股票價格持續下跌，它可能成為各大公司爭奪的目標。問題是，誰是最後的贏家?現有的汽車製造商能夠幫助特斯拉渡過在批量生產Model 3s上的困難，以滿足45萬多已交付定金的客戶的需求。幾年前，特斯拉的股價還沒開始飆升，有傳言稱，一家德國高端汽車製造商提出要收購特斯拉。但現在，所有德國高端汽車製造商都在各自籌備競爭產品。面向大眾的汽車公司在電氣化方面進展不大，比如菲亞特克萊斯勒汽車公司(其董事長約翰·埃爾坎是《經濟學人》母公司的董事會成員)，如果價格足夠低的話，他們對收購特斯拉可能會感興趣。
oslump |sl?mp| （價格、價值、數量等）驟降，猛跌，銳減
ochurn |t??:n; 美 t??:rn| 攪動，攪起，擾動(水、泥漿、灰塵) churn sth?out 大量生產，大量炮製
odeposit |d??p?z?t; 美 -?pɑ:z-|訂金；訂錢
osoar |s?:(r)|急升；猛增
orumour |?ru:m?(r)| 謠言；傳聞
ocirculate |?s?:kj?le?t; 美?s?:rk-|傳播；流傳；散布
opremium |?pri:mi?m| 高昂的；優質的
oin the works在討論（或計劃、籌備等）中；在醞釀中
oelectrification|??lektr?f??ke??n| 電氣化
omass-market 面向大眾的；適銷對路的
A big technology firm might also be a suitor. Apple wasonce said to have an eye on Tesla, before hatching and then abandoning plans tomake cars itself. It is under pressure to find a new hit product, is developingautonomous technology and has pockets deep enough to buy Tesla even if theshare price takes less of a tumble than many expect. Waymo, theself-driving car unit of Google, might also want to own hardware to complementits own autonomous-driving software.
大型科技公司也可能是其中之一。據說，蘋果曾有意收購特斯拉，但在籌劃前就放棄了自己生產汽車的計劃。面臨尋找新熱銷產品的壓力，蘋果正在開發自主技術，而即便特斯拉的股價下跌幅度沒有達到許多人預期的那樣，蘋果仍然擁有足夠的財力收購特斯拉。谷歌的自動駕駛汽車子公司Waymo也可能希望通過收購獲得特斯拉的硬體，以補充其自主駕駛軟體。
ohatch |h?t?| 策劃；（尤指）密謀
oabandon |??b?nd?n| 離棄，遺棄，拋棄
ohit product 拳頭產品
otumble |?t?mbl| 跌倒；滾落；暴跌
ocomplement |?k?mpl?ment; 美?kɑ:m-| 補充；補足；使完美；使更具吸引力
China』s techtitans may regard it as a desirable asset, too. Both Tencent, which already hasa 5% stake in Tesla, and Baidu are investors in NIO, one of the more plausiblecontenders among a slew of Chinese-backed competitors such as Faraday Futureand WM. Along with Alibaba, Chinese firms are putting large sums intodeveloping electric vehicles, autonomous driving and mobility services. Japan』s SoftBank also has plenty of cash, likes investing in more maturetech businesses and encourages synergies among firms in its stable. As theseinclude Uber and Didi, two ride-hailing firms, Tesla would be a usefuladdition.
中國的科技巨頭可能也會將特斯拉視為一項不錯的資產。騰訊已經擁有特斯拉5%的股份，它和百度都是蔚來汽車公司（NIO）的投資者。在法拉第未來(Faraday Future)和威馬汽車（WM）等多家中國競爭對手中，蔚來汽車公司是最有可能的競爭者之一。與阿里巴巴一樣，許多中國企業也投入巨資開發電動汽車、自動駕駛服務和自動移動服務。擁有大量現金的日本軟銀集團(SoftBank)喜歡投資更成熟的科技企業，推動這些科技企業與其他穩定的公司產生協同效應，如優步(Uber)和滴滴(Didi)這兩家叫車公司，所以，特斯拉將是一個有用補充。
otitan 巨人；高人；偉人
oplausible |?pl?:z?bl| 有道理的；可信的
ocontender |k?n?tend?(r)| 競爭者；角逐者；爭奪者
oa slew of 大量；許多 ~ of sth
osynergy |?s?n?d?i; 美 -?rd?i| 協同作用，協同增效作用
Or perhaps Mr Musk could realise another plan. 「I wish we could be private,」 he told Rolling Stone in November. If Tesla were cheap enough,perhaps SpaceX, his private rocket firm, could acquire it much as in 2016 Teslabought SolarCity, a struggling energy business that also counted him as itsbiggest shareholder. Tesla might need to rein in its ambitions if it went downthis path. But Mr Musk would get some respite from bores and boneheads.
或許馬斯克還有另外一個辦法。「我希望我們能保持私有，」馬斯克11月接受《滾石》雜誌採訪時說。如果特斯拉足夠便宜，或許馬斯克的私人火箭公司SpaceX可以收購它，就像2016年特斯拉收購陷入困境的能源企業SolarCity一樣。而馬斯克正是SolarCity公司的最大股東。如果特斯拉繼續這樣下去，它可能需要控制其雄心壯志。那時，馬斯克就可以從無聊和愚蠢的事情中得到一些喘息。
orein |re?n| 控制；主宰；掌管
orespite |?respa?t; 美?resp?t| （不快或困難的）暫緩，暫延
obore |b?:(r)|（常因話多）令人厭煩的人 ；煩人的狀況（或事情）
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