埃隆·马斯克如何拯救特斯拉免于破产：英语精读讲义

We are at a turning point in transportation. 習語

我们正处于交通运输的转折点。

Although gas cars still dominate the roads, 語法

尽管燃油车依然主导着道路，

it's becoming increasingly clear that the future of transport is electric,

但越来越明显的是，交通的未来是电动的，

and a lot of this excitement is because of one company.

而这种激动人心的前景，很大程度上归功于一家公司。

Tesla is disrupting the automotive industry by creating affordable EVs of all kinds, 用詞

特斯拉正在通过制造各种价格亲民的电动汽车来颠覆汽车行业，

but it almost didn't make it. 習語

但它差一点就没能挺过来。

Success was a long shot, 習語

成功的希望曾经非常渺茫，

and Elon Musk knew it.

而埃隆·马斯克深知这一点。

When we first started uh uh Tesla and SolarCity uh we we thought they would fail.

当我们最初创立、呃、特斯拉和SolarCity时，呃，我们以为它们会失败。

It's what um Tesla in particular we thought probably we have uh maybe 10% chance of success.

特别是、嗯、特斯拉，我们觉得可能只有、呃、大概10%的成功率。

This is not the story of a company that nearly died many times. 表達脈絡

这不是一家公司多次濒临倒闭的故事。

This is the story of a man who would not give up. 短語動詞

这是一个男人永不言弃的故事。

This is the story of Elon Musk's perseverance against all odds. 習語

这是关于埃隆·马斯克在逆境中坚韧不拔的故事。

In 2003 in Silicon Valley,

2003年，在硅谷，

two engineers created Tesla,

两名工程师创立了特斯拉，

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

他们是马丁·埃伯哈德和马克·塔彭宁。

They named it after Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. 短語搭配

他们以塞尔维亚裔美国发明家尼古拉·特斯拉的名字为公司命名。

Back then,

那时，

Tesla was called Tesla Motors.

特斯拉还叫特斯拉汽车公司。

They saw an opportunity to create an electric car after General Motors recalled the EV1, 講解

在通用汽车召回EV1之后，他们看到了制造电动汽车的商机，

the first mass-produced electric car in the modern era.

EV1是现代第一款量产的电动汽车。

It's unclear why GM did this.

通用汽车为什么要这么做，原因尚不清楚。

It could have been because of a lack of demand,

可能是因为缺乏需求、

high production costs,

生产成本高昂，

or pressure from the oil and gas industry.

或者是来自石油和天然气行业的压力。

Either way, 表達脈絡

无论如何，

GM crushed the cars in a junkyard.

通用汽车在废车场里把这些车全压碎了。

Elon came into the picture when the founders went looking for funding. 習語

当创始人们四处寻找资金时，埃隆出现了。

He made millions when the financial services company he co-founded,

他曾联合创立了一家金融服务公司，

X.com,

X.com，

merged with a rival and became PayPal.

该公司与竞争对手合并成为了PayPal，他因此赚取了数百万美元。

When eBay bought PayPal in 2002,

当eBay在2002年收购PayPal时，

Elon walked away with $180 million. 短語動詞

埃隆带着1.8亿美元全身而退。

He was very successful,

他非常成功，

but instead of calling it a career, 習語

但他并没有就此退休，

he sunk all his winnings into new ventures. 習語

而是把所有的收益都投入到了新的事业中。

He put 100 million into SpaceX,

他把1亿投给了SpaceX，

10 million into SolarCity,

1000万投给了SolarCity，

and 70 million into Tesla,

7000万投给了特斯拉，

including six and a half at the start,

其中包括一开始投入的650万，

and became the chairman of the company's board.

并成为了该公司董事会的主席。

So all of the money just came from me personally.

所以所有的钱都完全出自我个人。

Um

嗯，

so I didn't want to ask people uh other investors for money if I thought we were going to die.

如果我觉得我们快完蛋了，我不想去向别人、呃、其他投资者要钱。

2006 was a big year for Tesla.

2006年对特斯拉来说是重要的一年。

The Roadster made its official appearance,

Roadster正式亮相，

a good-looking fast electric car.

这是一款外观漂亮、速度很快的电动汽车。

But there were quality issues and a lot of production problems.

但它存在质量问题和诸多生产问题。

In the end,

最终，

Eberhard was ousted as CEO before the Roadster even went into production, 講解

埃伯哈德在Roadster投入生产之前就被剥夺了CEO的职务，

which didn't happen until 2008.

这款车直到2008年才开始生产。

Tesla was running out of money. 短語動詞

特斯拉的钱快用光了。

The company budgeted 25 million for the development of the Roadster,

公司为Roadster的研发做出了2500万美元的预算，

but it ended up costing nearly five times that. 講解

但最终花费却将近五倍。

By the fall of 2008,

到了2008年秋天，

Tesla had only 9 million left to fund the entire company.

特斯拉只剩下900万美元来维持整个公司的运转。

It was a tumultuous time with multiple CEOs coming and going, 習語

那是一段动荡的时期，好几位CEO来来去去，

and in the end,

最终，

Elon was left in charge. 短語搭配

埃隆不得不亲自接管。

He said this in an interview about the big decision he had to make.

在一次采访中，谈到他不得不做出的重大决定时，他这样说道。

Do I let Tesla die, 表達脈絡

我是让特斯拉倒闭，

or do I make it live with a lot of pain and grief?

还是让它在巨大的痛苦和悲伤中活下去？

He chose to make Tesla live,

他选择让特斯拉活下去，

but it couldn't have been more painful. 語法

但过程痛苦到了极点。

One of America's largest banks,

美国最大的银行之一，

Lehman Brothers, 文化背景

雷曼兄弟，

collapsed,

倒闭了，

sinking the world economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression.

使世界经济陷入了自大萧条以来最严重的衰退。

Plus,

此外，

SpaceX was close to being bankrupt after three failed rocket launches,

SpaceX在经历了三次火箭发射失败后濒临破产，

and he was going through a divorce from his wife Justine. 短語動詞

并且他正经历着与妻子贾斯汀的离婚。

Elon said 2008 was the worst year of his life,

埃隆说2008年是他一生中最糟糕的一年，

and he never thought he was someone capable of having a nervous breakdown,

他从未想过自己会是一个容易精神崩溃的人，

but came close to it.

但那时他几乎要崩溃了。

Elon fought hard to save his companies.

埃隆拼命拯救他的公司。

He cut 25% of Tesla's workforce and asked friends to help cover payroll, 短語搭配

他裁减了特斯拉25%的员工，并请求朋友帮忙支付工资，

but by December 2008,

但到了2008年12月，

Tesla was about to die.

特斯拉已经奄奄一息。

Still,

尽管如此，

he didn't give up.

他没有放弃。

He scraped together 20 million from various sources, 短語動詞

他从各种渠道凑集了2000万美元，

including the money he made investing in his cousin's data center startup,

其中包括他投资表弟的数据中心初创公司赚来的钱，

Everdream,

这家名叫Everdream的公司，

which Dell had bought the year before.

在前一年被戴尔收购了。

Investors agreed to match what he cobbled up,

投资者同意匹配他凑集的资金，

and in the end,

最终，

Elon managed to secure a $40 million dollar round of financing on Christmas Eve. 短語搭配

埃隆在平安夜成功获得了一轮4000万美元的融资。

It was the last hour of the last day that it was possible. 表達脈絡

那是在可能完成融资的最后一天的最后一个小时。

Ashlee Vance wrote a biography about Elon Musk,

阿什利·万斯为埃隆·马斯克写过一本传记，

and there is one dinner conversation that Elon had with a Tesla investor that really shows his tenacity.

里面记录了埃隆与一位特斯拉投资者的一次晚餐对话，真实展现了他的坚韧。

During that dinner,

在那次晚餐中，

Elon said,

埃隆说，

"I will spend my last dollar on these companies.

"我会把我的最后一分钱都花在这些公司上。

If we have to move into Justine's parents' basement, 語法

如果我们不得不搬进贾斯汀父母的地下室，

we'll do it."

我们也会这么做。"

Tesla barely pulled through in 2008, 短語動詞

特斯拉在2008年勉强渡过了难关，

but needed more money to stay alive.

但还需要更多资金来维持生存。

That came in May 2009,

2009年5月资金到账，

when German automaker Daimler invested $50 million by taking a 10% stake in the company. 用詞

当时德国汽车制造商戴姆勒投资5000万美元，获得了该公司10%的股份。

Daimler and Tesla had already been working on an electric smart car.

戴姆勒和特斯拉之前已经在合作开发一款电动Smart汽车。

The company also received a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, 文化背景

该公司还获得了美国能源部4.65亿美元的贷款，

which had a program backing clean tech startups.

该部门有一个支持清洁技术初创企业的项目。

The following year,

第二年，

Tesla found a more stable solution when it went public at $17 a share. 用詞

特斯拉以每股17美元的价格上市，找到了更稳定的解决方案。

Despite the problems with the Roadster,

尽管Roadster存在诸多问题，

Tesla had achieved something no company had ever done before.

特斯拉还是取得了以往任何公司都不曾取得的成就。

It proved that electric cars could be cool and fast.

它证明了电动汽车也可以既炫酷又快速。

But the Roadster was too expensive for most people,

但Roadster对大多数人来说太贵了，

costing more than $100,000.

售价超过10万美元。

So they built another car.

所以他们又造了一款车。

In 2012,

2012年，

Tesla stunned the world when it began shipping the Model S sedan.

特斯拉开始交付Model S轿车，震惊了世界。

It took everyone's breath away. 習語

它让所有人惊叹不已。

The Model S could go more than 300 miles on a single charge,

Model S单次充电可以行驶超过300英里，

and it was more affordable than the Roadster,

而且它比Roadster更亲民，

although still expensive.

尽管依然很贵。

Tesla's problems were still not over,

特斯拉的问题依然没有结束，

and nearly went bankrupt again in 2013.

在2013年又差点破产。

Even though the Model S was in high demand, 短語搭配

尽管对Model S的需求很高，

customers who put down a $5,000 deposit were hesitant about going through with their purchase. 短語動詞

但支付了5000美元定金的客户却对完成购买犹豫不决。

There were a lot of reasons for this,

造成这种情况的原因有很多，

complaints about the interior,

比如对内饰的抱怨，

kinks with the car. 用詞

以及汽车的小毛病。

Some of the earliest versions didn't have parking sensors and cruise control,

一些最早的版本没有倒车雷达和定速巡航，

which are common in high-end vehicles.

而这些在高端车辆中是很常见的配置。

There were also concerns about the resale value.

人们还对转售价值存在担忧。

We were operating with maybe one to two weeks of money.

我们的资金可能只够维持一到两周的运营。

When Elon found out about the problem,

当埃隆发现这个问题时，

he did three things.

他做了三件事。

First,

首先，

he turned every Tesla employee into a salesperson. 語法

他把特斯拉的每一位员工都变成了销售员。

They called everyone who put down a deposit and tried to convince them to go through with buying the car.

他们给每一个支付了定金的人打电话，试图说服他们完成购车。

Second,

其次，

he convinced his friend Larry Page,

他说服了他的朋友拉里·佩奇，

the CEO of Google,

即谷歌的CEO，

to buy Tesla if the company actually did run out of money.

如果特斯拉真的资金耗尽，就买下这家公司。

Finally,

最后，

Tesla shut down its factory when orders weren't coming in fast enough, 短語動詞

当订单来得不够快时，特斯拉关闭了工厂，

but did not admit this publicly,

但没有公开承认这一点，

or else it would have scared investors and sent the stock price plummeting. 講解

否则会吓跑投资者，导致股价暴跌。

Instead,

相反，

Tesla said it was closing down for maintenance,

特斯拉说关闭工厂是为了维护，

which was technically true, 表達脈絡

这在技术上是真实的，

but not the whole story.

但并非全部真相。

The strategy worked.

这个策略奏效了。

On May 8,

5月8日，

2013,

2013年，

Tesla stunned Wall Street by posting its first ever profit as a public company. 講解

特斯拉发布了作为上市公司的首次盈利，震惊了华尔街。

Tesla made 11 million on $562 million in sales after delivering 4,900 Model S's in the first quarter.

在第一季度交付了4900辆Model S后，特斯拉在5.62亿美元的销售额中赚取了1100万美元。

Elon saved Tesla from death,

埃隆把特斯拉，

again.

再次从死亡边缘拉了回来。

But there were more hardships to come.

但更多的艰难困苦还在后头。

The company's problems were still not over.

公司的问题依然没有结束。

It nearly went bankrupt again in 2018.

在2018年它几乎再次破产。

This time it had to do with the Model 3. 短語搭配

这次与Model 3有关。

Elon's vision from the beginning was to build an affordable electric car,

埃隆从一开始的愿景就是制造一款买得起的电动汽车，

paid for by the more expensive cars, 語法

由更昂贵的汽车来为其买单，

the Model S,

也就是Model S，

and also the Model X,

以及Model X，

which came out a few years earlier.

后者早几年就已推出。

So what do you think?

所以你们觉得怎么样？

The Model 3 had a base price of $35,000.

Model 3的起售价为3.5万美元。

This is kind of crazy,

这有点疯狂，

but I I just learned uh just told that uh the total number of orders for the Model 3 in the past 24 hours has now passed 115,000.

但我、我刚得知、呃、刚被告知，呃，过去24小时内Model 3的总订单量现已超过11.5万辆。

But the huge demand also meant the company had to produce the cars in time.

但巨大的需求也意味着公司必须及时生产出这些汽车。

And frankly,

坦白说，

we're going to be in production hell. 習語

我们将陷入生产地狱。

Um

嗯，

Welcome.

欢迎。

Welcome.

欢迎。

As the saying goes, 表達脈絡

俗话说得好，

if you're going through hell,

如果你正在穿越地狱，

keep going.

那就继续前行。

Tesla struggled to meet its production targets.

特斯拉努力想要实现其生产目标。

It initially wanted to produce 5,000 Model 3s a week,

它最初希望每周生产5000辆Model 3，

but in the first three months of 2018,

但在2018年的前三个月，

it made just 9,800 of them.

它只生产了9800辆。

Tesla was bleeding money as it tried to increase production of the car. 習語

特斯拉在努力提高汽车产量的同时也在疯狂烧钱。

It lost a billion dollars in the first half of 2019 and scrambled to raise capital. 短語搭配

在2019年上半年，它亏损了十亿美元，并拼命筹集资金。

Elon said the company was close to death within single-digit weeks.

埃隆说，公司离倒闭只剩个位数周。

He even slept on the factory floor because he didn't have time to go home,

他甚至睡在工厂地板上，因为他没有时间回家，

and also because he says he wanted to suffer more than any other employee.

也是因为他说他想比任何其他员工遭受更多的痛苦。

Despite the torturous production process, 語法

尽管生产过程充满折磨，

Tesla managed to pull through once again.

特斯拉还是再次挺了过来。

It turned a corner in the second half of 2019 by delivering over 92,000 Model 3s in the fourth quarter. 習語

它在2019年下半年迎来了转机，在第四季度交付了超过9.2万辆Model 3。

That's an increase from the same period the year before,

这比前一年同期增长了，

or year-over-year, 用詞

或者说同比增长了，

of 46%.

46%。

And the latest model,

而且最新车型，

the Model Y,

Model Y，

was ahead of schedule.

提前完成了进度。

Tesla has managed to survive.

特斯拉成功地存活了下来。

Now it's looking ahead to many ambitious plans,

现在，它正展望许多雄心勃勃的计划，

including fully autonomous driving,

包括完全自动驾驶、

a million-mile battery,

百万英里电池，

and driverless cabs called robotaxis.

以及被称为robotaxis的无人驾驶出租车。

Tesla's stock price hovers around $1,000 a share as of the making of this video, 短語搭配

截至制作本视频时，特斯拉的股价在每股1000美元左右徘徊，

but the biggest bulls see it going up way more. 用詞

但最乐观的看涨者认为它还会涨得更高。

Tesla has endured many near-death experiences, 表達脈絡

特斯拉经历了许多次濒死体验，

and through it all,

而贯穿始终的是，

Elon has never,

埃隆从未，

ever given up.

从未放弃。

It's hard to stay alive as a car company,

作为一家汽车公司，想要活下去很难，

honestly.

说实话。

Yeah.

是的。

Not only is Tesla alive, 語法

特斯拉不仅活了下来，

but because of his vision,

而且因为他的远见、

ambition,

雄心，

and relentless drive,

以及不懈的动力，

its future is still being written. 習語

它的未来仍在书写中。

Thanks so much for watching.

非常感谢您的观看。

I'm Cindy Pom.

我是Cindy Pom。

If you liked what you saw,

如果你喜欢你所看到的，

give us a like,

请点个赞，

and don't forget to subscribe to my new channel.

别忘了订阅我的新频道。

While you're at it,

顺便，

hit that notification bell so you'll know when I upload a new video.

点击通知小铃铛，这样我上传新视频时你就会知道。

I hope to do a lot more stories on topics that I find super interesting.

我希望能做更多关于我觉得非常有趣的话题的故事。

See you soon.

稍后见。