那個打算干掉特斯拉的中國人

未來的汽車將是純電動、自動駕駛，有高速網絡相連……而且免費。

而且，很可能是中國制造。

至少，億萬富翁創業者賈躍亭是這么看的，賈躍亭中國科技行業里有志通過精研技術改變汽車行業版圖的新生代代表，他們的目標是對美國高檔電動汽車先鋒特斯拉發起沖擊。

在北京樂視控股總部，身著黑色體恤衫和牛仔褲的賈躍亭在接受采訪時說：“特斯拉是一家偉大的公司，把全球汽車業帶進了電動時代。但我們（樂視控股）不僅僅是造車。我們認為汽車是裝了四個輪子的智能移動設備，本質上跟手機或平板電腦沒有區別。我們希望超越特斯拉，帶領行業邁進新紀元?！?/p>

中國政府為了推動向清潔能源的電動汽車轉移，最終取代汽油車輛，向財大氣粗的科技公司開放了汽車行業，所以業內涌現了一波創業潮。但也有人很懷疑，樂視這樣的初創企業要怎樣實現宏大愿景。

為了顯示決心，43歲的賈躍亭上周主持了LeSEE超跑概念電動車車發布會，瞄準特斯拉Model S的產品。這輛“智能、聯網、自動駕駛”汽車還將在本周的北京車展上亮相。

賈躍亭對路透社表示：“人們都在質疑我們的想法，嘲笑我們，覺得一家小型IT公司不可能造出跟寶馬和特斯拉之類世界知名品牌抗衡的汽車。堅持下來并不容易，但我們做出來了?！?/p>

內華達制造

樂視控股希望幾年后能在拉斯維加斯附近的工廠生產LeSEE轎車。目前工廠正由樂視在美國的戰略合作伙伴、賈躍亭參與投資的法拉第（Faraday Future）修建中。屆時產品將在美國和中國銷售。再往后，樂視還計劃在中國生產電動汽車，而且可能會和北京汽車合作。

賈躍亭指出，聯網電動汽車的定價模式將是“顛覆性”的，類似于樂視在中國推廣的手機和電視。樂視經常被稱為中國的Netflix，以后還會向駕駛者銷售影視音樂等內容以及服務。這就是賈躍亭說“總有一天汽車會免費”的原因。短期內，這款車的顛覆性更可能是“性能翻倍，價格折半”。

除了樂視，百度、阿里巴巴、騰訊和小米等重量級科技公司都投資了多家電動汽車初創企業，如蔚來汽車和長城華冠。業內普遍預期中國將鼓勵公交、出租和旅游公司使用電動汽車。

樂視控股聯合創始人、副董事長劉弘告訴路透社：“我們用全新的方式來定義新款汽車……而不是抄襲蘋果公司和特斯拉。我們的產品并非現有車型的升級版，而是革命性的……此前從未出現過?！?/p>

投資云服務

從機械角度講，電動汽車較容易制造，從而降低了行業門檻。但不少人懷疑中國的初創公司要怎樣獲得資金，才能造出數以萬計革命性的電動汽車，畢竟汽車制造十分復雜，從設計到采購上萬種零部件和系統步驟繁瑣。

戴姆勒稱，大中華區業務負責人唐仕凱上月受邀赴樂視參觀并了解其經營模式。

劉弘對路透社表示：“我告訴唐仕凱先生，我們將重新定義汽車。對我們來說，電動汽車只是另一塊屏幕。我們認為未來的汽車將是互聯網的延伸，是通過網絡銷售內容和服務的又一入口?！?/p>

賈躍亭無法回避資金問題。過去三年中，曾有人懷疑他失蹤，并且由于跟已落馬的令計劃五弟令完成關系密切而被扣押了護照。令計劃是去年因涉嫌貪腐接受調查的中共高官。

賈躍亭說他并不是玩失蹤，而是在加利福尼亞的一家酒店研究特斯拉，組建電動車技術開發團隊。他說：“那段時間確實比較艱難，因為外面謠言滿天飛，公司內部也陷入了混亂?！睋Z躍亭介紹，當時樂視就在把業務延伸到流媒體、手機和電視以外，“（如果）任何一項合資業務失敗，我們都會破產?！?/p>

為了給籌集資金發展電動車業務，賈躍亭的姐姐拋售了手中的樂視股票，把所得資金以無息貸款方式借給了賈躍亭。賈躍亭也賣了部分股票。

賈躍亭說，令完成跟樂視控股的關系“只是財務投資”；他從未見過令完成，護照也從未被扣押過。

漫漫長路

賈躍亭在山西農村長大，曾在縣地稅局當過一段時間技術人員，后來自己開公司賣計算機配件，還開過餐館，辦過私立學校。就在中國電信進入農村市場之際，賈躍亭聽取一位親戚的建議開始銷售手機基站天線電池。

2003年，賈躍亭開著二手豐田到了北京，打算用手中的20萬元人民幣幫助北京西伯爾通信科技有限公司通過移動流媒體業務發展。2007年，西伯爾在新加坡上市。隨后，賈躍亭和劉弘一起注冊了樂視。如今，樂視在中國、美國和印度有1.1萬名員工，上市業務2014年實現68億元人民幣收入。

同事和朋友們說賈躍亭是個精明的生意人，“吃飯時會大方埋單”，“總在工作”。福布斯估算，賈躍亭的身家為48億美元。

為了從樂視的IT背景向汽車行業過度，賈躍亭入股了設在美國加州的Atieva和法拉第，還跟阿斯頓馬丁以及北京汽車建立了合作關系。

樂視超級汽車首席執行官、前上汽通用總經理丁磊說，在今后的汽車行業中，樂視的優勢之一是沒有過去的包袱?，F有汽車廠商跟和傳統發動機的淵源太深，無法迅速轉向電動技術。

“你看，傳統OEM汽車廠商是不可能顛覆自己的。但我們這樣的公司就可以馬上發展純電動汽車?！?/p>

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Tomorrow’s cars will be all-electric, self-driving, connected to high-speed communications networks … and free.

And probably Chinese.

That, at least, is the vision of Jia Yueting, a billionaire entrepreneur and one of a new breed of Chinese who see their technology expertise re-engineering the automobile industry, and usurping Tesla Motors TSLA -0.76% , a U.S. pioneer in premium electric vehicle (EV) making.

“Tesla’s a great company and has taken the global car industry to the EV era,” Jia said in an interview at the Beijing headquarters of his Le Holdings Co, or LeEco. “But we’re not just building a car. We consider the car a smart mobile device on four wheels, essentially no different to a cellphone or tablet.“We hope to surpass Tesla and lead the industry leapfrogging to a new age,” said Jia, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans.

A wave of EV start-ups has emerged in China after the government opened up the auto industry to deep-pocketed technology firms to drive a switch to cleaner electric as an eventual alternative to gasoline cars. Skeptics wonder just how start-ups like LeEco will deliver on their grand visions.

As a sign of intent, 43-year-old Jia last week unveiled the LeSEE electric concept supercar, a rival to Tesla’s Model S. The “smart, connected and self-driving” car will be displayed at this week’s Beijing autoshow.

“People questioned our idea, a small IT company building a car to compete with the BMWs and Teslas of the world, and laughed at us. It wasn’t easy, but here we are,” Jia told Reuters.

Made in Nevada

LeEco hopes to start producing a version of the LeSEE in a few years at a plant being built near Las Vegas by U.S. strategic partner Faraday Future, in which Jia has invested. Those cars would be sold in the United States and China. Further ahead, the plan is to produce electric cars in China, too, probably through a partnership with BAIC Motor.

The web-connected electric cars will have a “disruptive” pricing model similar to phones and TV sets LeEco markets in China, Jia says. His company, often called China’s Netflix, will sell movies, TV shows, music and other content and services to drivers of its cars. That’s why he says “one day our cars will be free.” Nearer-term, the disruption is more likely to be “double the performance at half the price.”

Beyond LeEco, Chinese tech heavyweights including Baidu , Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi have funded more than half a dozen EV start-ups, such as NextEV and CH-Auto. It’s widely expected China’s bus, taxi and courier firms will be encouraged to go electric.

“We define our car in a whole new way … instead of copying Apple and Tesla,” LeEco co-founder and vice chairman Hank Liu told Reuters. “Our products are not upgraded from those that already exist. They are revolutionary … products that never existed before.”

Funding Clouds

While the entry barrier has been lowered as electric cars are, mechanically, relatively simpler to produce, skeptics query how China’s start-ups will fund and make tens of thousands of industry-changing EVs—from design through to procuring the 10,000 or so parts and systems needed for the finished product.

Daimler said Hubertus Troska, head of its Greater China business, was invited to LeEco last month to get to know the company and its business model.

“I told Mr. Troska we’re going to redefine the car,” Liu told Reuters. “EVs for us are just another screen. We see cars in the future as an extension of the Internet, another entry point for us to sell web-based content and services.”

Jia has also had to overcome questions on his funding. In the past three years, there was speculation he had disappeared and had his passport confiscated because of his ties to a brother of Ling Jihua, a high-ranking Communist Party official who was arrested last year and is under investigation for graft.

Jia says he did not go missing, but was in a California hotel researching Tesla and recruiting a team to develop EV technologies. “It was a difficult time for me because we faced a lot of external rumors and internal turmoil,” he said, noting LeEco was then expanding beyond its streaming, mobile and TV businesses. “(If) any of those ventures failed, we could have gone belly up,’ he said.

To help fund LeEco’s EV push, Jia’s sister sold her stake in the company and lent the money to him interest-free. He also sold part of his own stake.

He said Ling Wancheng, the disgraced official’s brother, is a “mere financial investor” in LeEco; he never met Ling Jihua; and his passport was never confiscated.

Long Road

Growing up in a rural Shanxi town in northern China, Jia worked briefly as a computer technician at a tax office before setting out on his own, selling computer accessories, and running restaurants and private schools. Acting on a tip from a relative, he began selling batteries to power cellphone tower antennas—just as China Telecom pushed into the rural hinterlands.

In 2003, he drove his used Toyota to Beijing, with 200,000 yuan (around $31,000 at current rates) in cash, seeking to grow his Sinotel Technologies business by adding simple mobile video streaming. He took the company public in Singapore in 2007. With Liu, he registered what is now LeEco – a group now employing 11,000 people in China, India and the United States. Its listed business had 2014 revenue of 6.8 billion yuan ($1.05 billion).

Colleagues and friends say Jia is a shrewd businessman, “generous in picking up the tab for meals” and “never stops working.” Forbes values him at $4.8 billion.

To vault from LeEco’s IT background to the auto industry, Jia has built ties with California-based Atieva and Faraday Future, and has a partnership with Aston Martin and a cooperative relationship with BAIC.

Ding Lei, LeEco’s auto chief and a former top official at General Motors’ China venture with SAIC Motor , says part of LeEco’s advantage in tomorrow’s auto industry is that it carries no baggage from today’s. Traditional automakers are too wedded to combustion engine technology to quickly jump to electric technology, he reckons.

“Look, this disruption can’t come from traditional OEMs (automakers). But a company like us, we can go directly to pure electric cars.”