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Is Tesla an Interrupter?
Those businesses who are committed to saving the conventional manufacturing industry of America include not only brands of long standing like GM and Ford, but also the High-tech companies that are emerging as an important driving force of innovation. As a game changer that “redefines automobiles”, Tesla actually wishes to see more electric vehicles coming in, even though it has not really won recognition of the conventional automakers.
Compared with Elon Musk, Ricardo Reyes may not appear so aggressive or tough, but his innate confidence is there for us to see and feel. The Silicon Valley gene can be sensed everywhere in this tech company. The toughest times in 2007-2008 have already passed and for every one of the company and for everything they do, they just feel proud of themselves for doing what they do..
“Tesla has never defined its products as vehicles in the conventional sense, but electronic products.” Such a claim has, no doubt, come to the 100-year-old conventional automakers as a shock. It is something like in an arena with long settled rules, somehow an intruding wild bull suddenly disrupted the order of long standing. In fact, when Tesla was founded back in 2003, the EV1 of GM had been through seven years of R&D and placed in market as the first-batch electric vehicles of scale production. With mediocre appearance and limited 140km range, it was relentlessly dismissed due to performance after over 2,000 units have been produced - and this has made the company infamous.
“General Motors has developed its best electric vehicle EV1. This is something remarkable, but the battery is really terrible. The battery is too weighty and you can hardly have it rivaling directly against gasoline vehicles. It is at a high price and provides a smaller mileage,” Tesla’s CTO JB Straubel relentless made such a comment during his speech at University of Nevada in 2015.
Commenting on competitors is something unwise to do, but Tesla does not seem to follow such a rule. Even Vice President of Brand Communications Ricardo Reyes remarked without reservation, “We have to admit that all that we have done, either regarding our brand or our products, may come to conventional automakers as indeed uncomfortable.” He revealed that for all the negative feedback Tesla has received recently including the rumor of acquisition, it could have been all because Tesla is acting in a convention-challenging fashion.
“We do not have those preconceptions. We merely start from zero and in the best possible way, design what we believe it should be like.” As Ricardo Reyes stressed, the goal of Tesla is not to become the world’s only electric vehicle manufacturer and we are not gonna be enemy of anybody. But in order to achieve the goal of sustainable “global electric mobility”, the best way is to engage in cooperation with automakers to produce more electric vehicles.
Ricardo Reyes
Ricardo Reyes leads Tesla’s global communications efforts.He spent a decade in Washington, DC, working at the White House where he advocated for free trade at the U.S. Trade Representative's office.He joined Google in 2006 where he led policy and communications efforts for the search engine and for YouTube.Prior to returning to Tesla, Ricardo worked at the mobile point of sale start-up Square, dedicated to using technology to give small business owners tools to succeed.He first joined Tesla during the early days of the company, from 2009 to 2012, helping to communicate about the Roadster and launch Model S and Model X. He returned late last year.He was born in Nicaragua, but grew up in Houston, Texas where he attended Rice University.
Is Tesla an Interrupter?
Small, Mediocre Electric Car? No!
The rate of second glance of Tesla in China started from the lovely impression of Model S riding on the road. The .external appearance means a lot to electric vehicles, he said.
“In the past, when people were talking about electric vehicles, the direct impression would be .small size, mediocre appearance and low price. So when an electric car can be called lovely, sexy and the like, this is affirmation,”
"Ricardo Reyes was explaining the uncompromising nature of Tesla to us, “Customers should be able to buy an exquisite product at a proper price that runs at pretty fast speed - this is our notion as we start designing vehicles.” "
In 13 years, Tesla has only launched three models and due to the higher pricing, Tesla has been labeled “the toy of the rich” in China. However, a product is only the outer expression of strategy and according to Ricardo Reyes, the Tesla team had explicitly set its three-step strategy upon establishment of the company, implementing it in a sure and sure manner.
The first step is making high-performance vehicles of small scale, confirming the feasibility of electric vehicles. The second step is expanding the consumer population, offering vehicles with price valued product. Now, how to make affordable product for all public to experience the High Tech, is the goal of third step.
"Tesla was not founded to make expensive vehicles. We are to change current situation of electric vehicles, making it possible for each car to go electric.”
To produce affordable high tech product, will invariably undergo such a process, just like the Pad that went from its birth to the affordable access to mass consumers.
Ricardo Reyes Ricardo Reyes
The Trying Transition Almost over
While the dazzling hi-tech trend is updating people’s conventional knowledge, the sales volume of Tesla in China is not really optimistic in 2015 - according to a modest estimate, the total sales of the whole year may not have exceeded 5,000 units at the most, accounting for approximately 10% of the global sales of Tesla.
Meanwhile, over a year ago, Tesla China has undergone frequent reshuffle of teams. Either for the head of China area or the PR team, the change has been so quick for people to follow. According to some insiders, “as a typical American tech company, the performance orientation has been the root cause and if you do not meet this rule, you go..
As Ricardo Reyes admitted, in 2014-2015, the two years of Tesla in China has not been smooth at all. The most important reason is trying to duplicate mechanically the Euro-American success story to China market.
The year of 2015 was described by Ricardo Reyes as the year of trying transitioning. Upon realizing the mistake, the Tesla Headquarters reconsidered the China market, adjusting the team members and fostering market in terms of both consumers and media. This ultimate goal of the company will, it is hoped, changethe conventional knowledge of people about electric vehicles."
The eventual spread of a complete new thing has to undergone the course of acute pains. Just like the reincarnation of Tesla in America, 11 VPs as well as 3 CEOs have been replaced in 6 months in the worst case due to pressure of cost and disturbance of management.
One cannot afford to miss the China market, not only because the market potential is as big as that of America, but also because there is a large crowd of followers - the elites of the IT, Lifestyle and entrepreneurship communities all think highly of Tesla. During the personnel reshuffle in 2014, former Director of Supercharger Project of Tesla China Tom Zhu became the new head of China area; before joining Tesla, Zhu had rich experience of entrepreneurship. According to appraisal of Ricardo Reyes, “he has brought all the entrepreneurial spirit into the China team. The past year is full of dramatic change with some sort of consistence. However, the year of 2016 will be a year of turning point that is full of expectations.”
The Trying Transition Almost over The Trying Transition Almost over
精彩问答
  • 1

    1. Tencent Auto: The world needs hi-tech companies, but how do advanced technologies achieve popularization?

    Ricardo Reyes: For electric vehicles, one of the most expensive costs is battery, and that's why we are building a Gigafactory to dramatically increase the production of the batteries. Once the battery price is lowered, our vehicles will be more affordable, making sustainable transportation more popular among consumers.
  • 2

    Tencent Auto: Do you think Tesla is too idealistic as a commercial company?

    Ricardo Reyes: We could be a profitable company if we just decide to produce and sell Model S and Model X. But it's just a business model and not our objective.
  • 3

    Tencent Auto: What are the new developments with Tesla's production localization in China?

    Ricardo Reyes: Our ultimate goal is to produce a mass market vehicle, thus it will be necessary to build production where the consumers are. Depending on how consumers accept our products, we hope to build production close to our Chines consumers.
  • 4

    Tencent Auto: How does Tesla distinguish itself from conventional automakers?

    Ricardo Reyes:Our objective is totally different from traditional car companies. The goal of every other car company in the world is to sell as many cars as possible, but what we do at Tesla is to always show the consumers and the rest of the automobile industry what is possible with innovation, electronic vehicles, Internet vehicles, auto-pilot systems and automation. Our goal is to stay ahead and show the industry which way to go.

high intelligence

enthusiasm

Direct

rigorous logic

self-confidence

sincere

energetic

  • Ricardo Reyes
  • Ricardo Reyes
  • Ricardo Reyes
  • Ricardo Reyes
编者按
EDITOR'S NOTE
Taking a seat and exchange of greetings. After exchanging business cards with Ricardo Reyes, I found what he had handed me was one in Chinese - with a very nice Chinese name 李嘉图. As an American company that has been established for only 13 years, Tesla has displayed more qualities that are typically American: passionate, liberal, bold, casual... Especially in the three years in China, it has been mostly trying to duplicate the Euro-American experience to China - apparently not fitting in well with the China market. So, the business card of Mr. Ricardo Reyes in Chinese language came to me as a surprise. In nearly two hours of communication, the typical American, who loves agave and horse riding, made a sincerely apology to the China market. “China is unlike American and European markets and we have realized our duplication of experience was mistaken, but do not try to shun problems.” Facing the man, I could sense the communication was rather different from that with conventional automakers, just like tech startups being different from conventional automakers of long standing. The former concentrates on execution and fulfillment of targets, without the complexities of process or more restrictions. As Mr. Reyes told me, making profits is one purpose of operating a business, but this is not the mission of Tesla. Otherwise, relying on Model S alone, the company could have made a lot of money. Although it sounds like the sermon of a father, the two types of qualities of a profit-making business and the engineer team are in themselves contradictory. Notwithstanding, this may possibly work in Tesla - anyway, who has made the company since its birth a spearheading business off the beaten path? Again, “you can you up!”
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