????特斯拉公司（Tesla）創始人、已是億萬富翁的埃隆?穆斯克今年春天在北京宣布，公司計劃于未來3-4年內在中國生產汽車。在一些觀察家看來，這個計劃極具野心，甚至有些魯莽。

????專家們的意見主要集中于兩點。首先，特斯拉想要在中國生產和銷售汽車，必須先與一家中國制造商成立合資公司。眾所周知，中國政府的政策偏向合資公司中中國的那一方，特斯拉可能因此被迫與中國合作方分享一些有價值的商業機密，或者至少要做出一些對自身不利的決策。

????其二，懷疑論者指出，特斯拉必須從零開始，在中國建設一個充電網絡。而這一點也要求成立合資公司，同時還要得到中國政府的支持。如果中國政府決定支持某一類型的充電站，而不是支持特斯拉，他們可以輕易做到，從而迫使特斯拉在一個不確定的市場花費幾億、甚至幾十億美元。

????距離穆斯克宣布在中國生產汽車之后還不到三個月，中國政府就更改了一項法規。這一點表明，特斯拉想要在中國發展，路途還很漫長。

????據彭博新聞社（Bloomberg News）報道，中國一個國家級研究中心意圖批準中國所有類型的公司——而不只是獲得授權的汽車公司——生產電動汽車。實際上，他們是想在特斯拉開始在中國生產汽車之前，進一步鼓勵中國汽車公司向特斯拉發起競爭。

????這個消息最直接的意義是，曾經買下破產的美國菲斯克汽車公司（Fisker Automotive）的萬象集團（Wanxiang Group）將獲得授權，竭盡全力與特斯拉抗衡。蘋果公司（Apple）供應商富士康科技集團（Foxconn Technology Group）也表明，它已經開始進軍電動汽車領域。

????特斯拉在中國面臨的挑戰正應了一句古話：“天下沒有免費的午餐”。今年早些時候，埃隆?穆斯克在上海與一些有意向的政府官員舉行了會面，同時借有可能與特斯拉合作建設充電站的兩家國有電力公司抬高了自己的身價。這些聽起來似乎是好消息，但其中沒有明說的一點是，特斯拉為了在中國生產汽車可能需要放棄一些東西。

????關鍵技術和關鍵人才是特斯拉之所以成為特斯拉的核心，而中國方面想得到的也正是這些。要想在中國市場獲利，特斯拉可能需要對這些予以割讓，至少是割讓其中一部分。

????更改法規的消息加劇了競爭，但特斯拉面臨的更大挑戰是：中國競爭對手獲取它的技術。

????《財富》雜志5月份的一篇文章寫道：

????“想象一下：中國的汽車公司開始模仿特斯拉的電池創新，然后以比特斯拉低得多的價格出售電動汽車。對此特斯拉很可能將無計可施。”

????中國市場向更多的特斯拉競爭對手開放，這或許是針對埃隆?穆斯克和他的高科技汽車公司的第一項舉動。而之后，特斯拉還將面臨更多挑戰。（財富中文網）

????譯者：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.