纽约时报盛赞蔚来:体现中国在电动汽车创新和制造领域的主导地位

China’s E.V. Threat: A Carmaker That Loses $35,000 a Car

中国的电动汽车威胁：一家汽车制造商每辆车损失 35,000 美元

Chinese electric vehicle companies like Nio are pulling ever further ahead, partly through government support but also through rapid technological advances.

像蔚来这样的中国电动汽车公司正在不断取得领先，部分原因是政府的支持，但技术的快速进步也是如此。

The Nio booth at Auto Shanghai 2023 in April.4 月 2023 年上海车展上的蔚来展台

Nio, a Chinese electric car company that competes with Tesla, employs 11,000 people in research and development, but sold a mere 8,000 cars per month from April through June.

蔚来是一家与特斯拉竞争的中国电动汽车公司，拥有 11,000 名研发人员，但从 4 月到 6 月每月仅售出 8,000 辆汽车。

It has invested so extensively in robots that one of its factories employs just 30 technicians to make 300,000 electric car motors a year. Nio offers $350 augmented reality glasses for each seat in its cars, and has introduced a cellphone that interacts with the car’s self-driving system.

该公司在机器人方面的投资如此之大，以至于其一家工厂仅雇用 30 名技术人员，每年就能生产 30 万个电动汽车电机。Nio 为其汽车中的每个座位提供价值 350 美元的增强现实眼镜，并推出了一款可与汽车自动驾驶系统交互的手机。

And none of it is profitable — far from it. Nio lost $835 million in the second quarter, or $35,000 for each car it sold.

而且这些都没有盈利——远非盈利。蔚来汽车第二季度亏损 8.35 亿美元，即每售出一辆车亏损 3.5 万美元。

Nio and other companies in China’s sprawling electric car sector have formidable government backing that allows them to withstand such losses and keep growing. When Nio nearly ran out of cash in 2020, a local government immediately injected $1 billion for a 24 percent stake, and a state-controlled bank led a group of other lenders to pump in another $1.6 billion.

蔚来和中国庞大的电动汽车行业的其他公司拥有强大的政府支持，使他们能够承受此类损失并保持增长。2020 年，当蔚来汽车几乎耗尽现金时，当地政府立即注入 10 亿美元以获得 24% 的股份，一家国有银行带领其他贷款机构又注入了 16 亿美元。

Today Nio embodies China’s dominance of electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing, underlining its threat to traditional auto powers in Europe and the United States.

如今，蔚来体现了中国在电动汽车创新和制造领域的主导地位，凸显了其对欧洲和美国传统汽车强国的威胁。

The strike by the United Automobile Workers union against three Detroit carmakers, now in its third week, is at its heart a conflict over electric vehicles: The companies say they must invest billions of dollars to retool their operations, while workers say they must defend their jobs from automation and technology while increasing their pay.

美国汽车工人联合会针对底特律三家汽车制造商的罢工现已进入第三周，其核心是电动汽车方面的冲突：这些公司表示，他们必须投资数十亿美元来重组其运营，而工人们则表示，他们必须捍卫自己的利益。自动化和技术带来的就业机会，同时增加了他们的工资。

On Wednesday, European politicians worried by a wave of Chinese exports formally launched an investigation into whether electric car manufacturers in China have received government subsidies, a step that could lead Europe to impose tariffs. China’s E.V. exports have surged 851 percent in the past three years, mainly to Europe. The inquiry by the European Union is geopolitically complicated: Many of Europe’s most important companies have ties to China’s market, and China is ready to retaliate.

周三，对中国出口浪潮感到担忧的欧洲政界人士正式启动了一项调查，调查中国的电动汽车制造商是否获得了政府补贴，此举可能导致欧洲征收关税。过去三年，中国电动汽车出口激增851%，主要销往欧洲。欧盟的调查具有地缘政治的复杂性：欧洲许多最重要的公司都与中国市场有联系，而中国已准备好进行报复。

China’s Ministry of Commerce denounced the inquiry on Wednesday, calling it “naked protectionist behavior that will seriously disrupt and distort the supply chain of the global automotive industry chain.”

中国商务部周三谴责了此次调查，称其为“赤裸裸的保护主义行为，将严重扰乱和扭曲全球汽车产业链供应链”。

Companies like Nio, which is spending heavily on marketing in Germany and other European countries, need exports. The question is whether Nio can sell enough cars to justify its enormous research and investment effort.

像蔚来这样的公司在德国和其他欧洲国家投入巨资进行营销，需要出口。问题是蔚来能否销售足够的汽车来证明其巨大的研究和投资努力是合理的。

“I’m actually not concerned about the capacity or volume of manufacturing — I’m only concerned about the demand,” said William Li, the chairman and chief executive of Nio, at a news conference in Shanghai.

“实际上，我并不关心产能或产量，我只关心需求，”蔚来汽车董事长兼首席执行官李威廉在上海举行的新闻发布会上表示。

William Li, chief executive of Nio, introducing Nio’s new cellphone at a news conference in Shanghai on Sept. 21.

9月21日，蔚来汽车首席执行官李斌在上海举行的新闻发布会上介绍蔚来新手机

As American and European manufacturers struggle to catch up, Chinese automakers lead the world in a critical aspect of the E.V. supply chain: battery technology. They have pioneered new battery chemistries that allow long-range driving at considerably reduced cost. China also dominates electric motor production, and in designing high-efficiency systems that tie together batteries and motors.

在美国和欧洲制造商奋力追赶之际，中国汽车制造商在电动汽车供应链的一个关键方面（电池技术）领先于世界。他们开创了新的电池化学材料，可以以大大降低的成本实现长距离行驶。中国还主导着电动机生产以及将电池和电动机连接在一起的高效系统的设计。

Electric car sales are growing fast, but China has been building factories even faster for practically every electric car component. That has created a glut of capacity that has driven price tags for electric cars below the price of gasoline-powered cars.

电动汽车销量正在快速增长，但中国几乎所有电动汽车零部件的工厂建设速度都更快。这造成了产能过剩，导致电动汽车的价格低于汽油动力汽车的价格。

Wages also tend to be lower in China. Autoworkers in big cities like Shanghai earn about $30,000 a year in pay and benefits, while workers in less expensive cities in the interior earn considerably less.

中国的工资也往往较低。上海等大城市的汽车工人每年的工资和福利约为 3 万美元，而生活成本较低的内陆城市的工人收入则要低得多。

By contrast, Ford Motor has said its workers earned an average of $110,000 a year in pay and benefits. The U.A.W. is seeking a roughly 40 percent pay raise over four years, plus a paid day off each workweek.

相比之下，福特汽车公司表示，其员工的平均年薪和福利为 11 万美元。UAW 寻求在四年内加薪约 40%，并每周提供带薪休假。

As Nio’s new electric motor factory shows, Chinese car manufacturing is now among the most automated in the world. American automakers are finding that they have to buy industrial robots and other automation from Chinese suppliers, said Michael Dunne, an auto analyst in San Diego who specializes in China.

正如蔚来新的电动机工厂所表明的那样，中国汽车制造业目前是世界上自动化程度最高的汽车制造业之一。圣地亚哥专门研究中国的汽车分析师迈克尔·邓恩(Michael Dunne)表示，美国汽车制造商发现他们必须从中国供应商那里购买工业机器人和其他自动化设备。

“They look around and say does America have anything close to their ability on automation, and the answer is no,” said Mr. Dunne, a former president of General Motors Indonesia.

“他们环顾四周，说美国在自动化方面是否有接近他们的能力，答案是否定的，”通用汽车印度尼西亚公司前总裁邓恩说。

Paul Gong, head of Asia automotive research for the bank UBS, predicted that Chinese carmakers would capture a third of the global car market by the end of the decade. Much of the growth in his forecast is a jump in Chinese carmakers’ share of the European market to 20 percent, from just 3 percent now.

瑞银银行亚洲汽车研究主管保罗·龚预测，到本世纪末，中国汽车制造商将占据全球汽车市场的三分之一。他预测的增长主要是中国汽车制造商在欧洲市场的份额从目前的 3% 跃升至 20%。

In China, he said, “the competition is so fierce that it pushes every automaker to develop new technologies.”

他说，在中国，“竞争非常激烈，迫使每个汽车制造商都开发新技术。”

A Nio electric car factory in Hefei, China, in 2020. The lifts are used to raise batteries into the underbodies of cars.

2020 年，中国合肥的一家蔚来电动汽车工厂。升降机用于将电池提升到汽车底部。

China’s technological edge has convinced some European automakers that it makes economic sense to strike partnerships even though they compete with Chinese exporters.

中国的技术优势让一些欧洲汽车制造商相信，即使与中国出口商竞争，建立合作伙伴关系也具有经济意义。

In July, Volkswagen paid $700 million for a 4.99 percent stake in XPeng, a money-losing Chinese electric car start-up, putting a valuation of $14 billion on XPeng. Nio received assistance from the Hefei local government, but XPeng has acknowledged assistance from the local government in Wuhan, also in central China.

7月，大众汽车斥资7亿美元收购了亏损的中国电动汽车初创企业小鹏汽车4.99%的股份，小鹏汽车的估值达到140亿美元。蔚来汽车获得了合肥当地政府的援助，但小鹏汽车也承认了同样位于中国中部的武汉当地政府的援助。

Volkswagen announced in April that it would build a $1.1 billion car development center in the central China city of Hefei. VW will hire 2,000 engineers to do work previously performed at its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, for cars manufactured in China.

大众汽车今年 4 月宣布，将斥资 11 亿美元在中国中部城市合肥建设一座汽车开发中心。大众汽车将雇佣 2,000 名工程师，从事此前在德国沃尔夫斯堡总部为中国制造的汽车进行的工作。

Not all Chinese E.V. companies are losing money. BYD, the electric car leader in China and globally, tripled profit to $1.5 billion in the first half of this year. BYD makes its own batteries and is a highly efficient manufacturer.

并非所有中国电动汽车公司都在亏损。作为中国乃至全球电动汽车领导者的比亚迪今年上半年的利润增长了两倍，达到 15 亿美元。比亚迪自己生产电池，是一家高效的制造商。

UBS researchers teamed up with an engineering firm to tear apart a BYD Seal electric car. They found that the Seal hatchback sedan cost at least 35 percent less to make than a slightly smaller car of similar quality, the Volkswagen ID3.

瑞银研究人员与一家工程公司合作，拆解了一辆比亚迪 Seal 电动汽车。他们发现，Seal 掀背轿车的制造成本比同等质量的稍小汽车大众 ID3 至少低 35%。

The global market can expect far more exports from BYD: The company recently ordered, from Chinese shipyards, its own fleet of the largest transoceanic car-carrying ships ever built.

全球市场预计比亚迪的出口量将大大增加：该公司最近从中国造船厂订购了自己的船队，该船队由有史以来建造的最大的跨洋汽车运载船组成。

In addition to Europe, Chinese brands report soaring auto sales in markets from Australia to the Mideast to Latin America. The only market in which Chinese cars have a negligible share and are not expected to gain ground is the United States.

除欧洲外，中国品牌在澳大利亚、中东和拉丁美洲等市场的汽车销量也在飙升。中国汽车所占份额微不足道且预计不会取得进展的唯一市场是美国。

In 2018, Robert E. Lighthizer, President Donald J. Trump’s trade representative, imposed a 25 percent tariff on all cars imported from China. The Biden administration has created a subsidy proposal for electric vehicles that excludes Chinese cars.

2018年，唐纳德·J·特朗普总统的贸易代表罗伯特·E·莱特希泽(Robert E. Lighthizer)对所有从中国进口的汽车征收25%的关税。拜登政府制定了一项电动汽车补贴提案，不包括中国汽车。

Nio announced its new cellphone and other technical advances at an abandoned steel mill. The aim was to signal China’s shift from heavy industry to high tech.

蔚来在一家废弃的钢厂宣布了其新手机和其他技术进步。其目的是标志着中国从重工业转向高科技。

The overall car market in China has been shrinking since 2017, as sales of gasoline-powered cars have plummeted faster than electric car sales have risen. Ride-hailing services have become ubiquitous while high-speed rail lines and subways have knit the country tightly together.

自2017年以来，中国整体汽车市场一直在萎缩，汽油动力汽车销量的下滑速度快于电动汽车销量的增长速度。网约车服务已经无处不在，高铁和地铁将这个国家紧密地联系在一起。

Chinese companies keep racing to improve their technology. Since April, Nio has introduced its first small touring wagon and a new coupe sport utility vehicle while upgrading three other car models. Nio’s Internet-enabled augmented reality glasses can allow passengers to project a video meeting or share a computer game.

中国企业不断竞相提高技术。自四月以来，蔚来推出了首款小型旅行车和一款新型轿跑车运动型多用途车，同时升级了其他三款车型。蔚来的联网增强现实眼镜可以让乘客投影视频会议或共享电脑游戏。

These initiatives are starting to increase the company’s sales, although they remain low. Figures released by the company on Sunday showed that the average monthly pace of vehicle deliveries rose to 18,477 from July through September. The company has not yet released financial information for the third quarter.

这些举措开始增加公司的销售额，尽管销售额仍然较低。该公司周日公布的数据显示，7 月至 9 月平均每月汽车交付量升至 18,477 辆。该公司尚未公布第三季度的财务信息。

Selling smartphones and electric cars together has long been the dream of the electric car and smartphone industries. The cellphones, which work closely with a car’s self-driving functions, can be replaced much more frequently as technology improves than semiconductors in cars, which must pass lengthy safety reviews.

同时销售智能手机和电动汽车一直是电动汽车和智能手机行业的梦想。随着技术的进步，与汽车自动驾驶功能密切配合的手机可以比汽车中的半导体更频繁地更换，而汽车中的半导体必须通过漫长的安全审查。

On Sept. 21, Nio put on sale its own brand of cellphone with a button on the left side for car controls. The founder of Geely, another Chinese automaker, last year acquired 79 percent of a smartphone manufacturer, Meizu, and has begun putting its software into Geely cars. Apple has talked for years of selling electric cars in addition to iPhones, but the Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is in the final stages of preparing to enter the car market next year.

9月21日，蔚来推出自主品牌手机，左侧有一个汽车控制按钮。另一家中国汽车制造商吉利的创始人去年收购了智能手机制造商魅族 79% 的股份，并开始将其软件植入吉利汽车。多年来，苹果公司一直在谈论除 iPhone 之外还销售电动汽车，但中国智能手机制造商小米正处于准备明年进入汽车市场的最后阶段。

So China’s electric carmakers persevere despite initial losses. “You all know we have not broken even, we are under great pressure,” Nio’s Mr. Li said. But he reaffirmed the company’s tech investments as “the path we should take.”

因此，中国的电动汽车制造商尽管最初亏损，但仍坚持了下来。“你们都知道，我们还没有达到收支平衡，我们压力很大，”蔚来汽车的李先生说。但他重申公司的技术投资是“我们应该走的道路”。