China’s Pinduoduo has clashed with Tesla after it sold the US group’s electric vehicles at a hefty discount, highlighting the ecommerce platform’s controversial use of big subsidies.
中国的拼多多(Pinduoduo)因以大幅折扣出售特斯拉(Tesla)电动汽车而与这家美国车企发生争执，突显出这家电商平台在使用巨额补贴方面引发的争议。
Pinduoduo, the most valuable company in the world to have never turned an operating profit, last month hosted a group-buying event in which Chinese shoppers could buy a Tesla Model 3 for significantly below its Rmb291,800 ($42,100) price tag.
拼多多是从未实现营业利润的公司当中全球市值最高的那个。上月，该公司推出了一项团购活动，拼团的中国买家能够以显著低于官方指导价29.18万元人民币（合4.21万美元）的价格购买一辆特斯拉Model 3。
But Tesla originally said it would not deliver the cars, pointing to a company policy that bans the resale of its vehicles. Tesla, which recently became the world’s most valuable carmaker, only sells its vehicles directly to buyers via its website, bypassing dealers.
但特斯拉最初表示不会交付这些汽车，原因是该公司的政策禁止转卖。最近成为全球市值最高汽车制造商的特斯拉，只通过其官网直接向买家销售汽车，不经过中间商。
Pinduoduo is well-known for offering customers generous subsidies, which it records as sales and marketing fees. In the first three months of this year, these fees were greater than its revenues. Analysts question if its business model can become sustainable.
拼多多以向消费者提供慷慨补贴而闻名，并将这些补贴记录为销售和营销费用。今年前三个月，这部分费用超过了公司的营收。分析人士质疑其商业模式能否持久。
Despite that, the group’s US-listed shares have surged 138 per cent this year to give Pinduoduo a value of roughly $110bn.
尽管如此，在美国上市的拼多多股价今年已飙涨138%，使其市值达到约1100亿美元。
But analysts said the sales of the discounted Tesla cars had taken its use of subsidy-based marketing to a new level. Pinduoduo sold five Model 3s at about a 14 per cent discount, with the company and one of its online merchants making up the difference to the official price, according to Chinese media reports.
但分析师表示，团购特斯拉汽车将拼多多基于补贴的营销推到了一个新高度。中国媒体报道称，拼多多以约14%的折扣销售了5辆Model 3，拼多多及其平台上的一家商户补贴了与官方价格之间的差价。
Shawn Yang, managing director at Blue Lotus Capital Advisors, said the Tesla stunt suggested Pinduoduo was trying to shake off its reputation as a platform for cheap goods. Last year, its average order was worth just Rmb51. “It doesn’t want to stay that way and they’ve been doing a lot to let people know they have high-value stuff on their platform like iPhones or Teslas to try to attract high-value users.”
蓝莲花研究机构(Blue Lotus Capital Advisors)董事总经理杨子潇(Shawn Yang)表示，围绕特斯拉团购活动的这场风波表明，拼多多试图摆脱其廉价商品交易平台的名声。去年，拼多多每笔订单的平均价值仅为51元人民币。“它不想一直这样下去，他们一直在做很多事情，让人们知道他们的平台上有高价值的东西，比如iPhone或特斯拉，以吸引高价值用户。”
“It's all about marketing,” said another Hong Kong-based equity analyst. “Last year they sold Wuling , this year they sold Cadillac and now they are selling Tesla. They want to get rid of their low-end image.”
“这完全是营销手段，”另一位驻香港的股票分析师表示。“去年他们卖（廉价小型货车）五菱(Wuling)，今年他们卖凯迪拉克(Cadillac)，现在他们又开始卖特斯拉。他们想摆脱自己的低端形象。”
Pinduoduo was increasing subsidies to lift its growth but doing so only added to its losses, said one industry insider. “It’s an endless loop,” he said.
一位业内人士表示，拼多多通过提高补贴来促进增长，但这样做只会越亏越多。“这是一个无止境的循环，”他说。
Sales on Pinduoduo have on occasion displeased Western brands, including Apple, whose high-end iPhones it sells with hundreds of dollars knocked off the retail price despite not being an authorised reseller. Apple declined to comment.
拼多多上的销售有时会让包括苹果(Apple)在内的西方品牌感到不满。拼多多以高达数百美元的折扣售卖苹果的高端iPhone——尽管其不是苹果的授权经销商。苹果拒绝置评。
Tesla’s decision not to honour the Pinduoduo sales also yielded criticism of the carmaker, for which China is an important market. The group sold 45,721 vehicles in China in the first half of 2020, accounting for about a quarter of its total deliveries globally.
特斯拉拒绝在拼多多下单的用户提车，这个决定也为这家车企招致批评，中国是特斯拉的一个重要市场。该集团2020年上半年在中国销售了45721辆汽车，约占其全球总交付量的四分之一。
Qiu Baochang, an expert at the official China Consumers' Association, called Tesla’s actions “improper” and said they had “hurt consumers’ legitimate rights and interests”.
官方机构中国消费者协会(China Consumers' Association)的专家邱宝昌称特斯拉的行为“不妥当”，并表示它们“损害了消费者的合法权益”。
Tesla on Monday pledged unspecified compensation to those who ordered a car via Pinduoduo for “losses of time and energy” if they repurchased the vehicle through its own website.
周一，特斯拉向那些通过拼多多订购汽车的用户承诺，如果他们通过特斯拉自己的网站重新下单，特斯拉将弥补他们的“时间与精力损失”，但没有说明具体补偿金额。
On Chinese social media, some users argued that the buzz generated by the Tesla incident could only be a good thing for Pinduoduo.
在中国社交媒体上，一些用户认为特斯拉事件引发的热议对拼多多来说只有好处。
“Through giving a sizeable subsidy, Pinduoduo may have earned massive traffic, there is nothing wrong with that,” said Mr Qiu. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
邱宝昌表示：“拼多多给予一定的补贴，通过这种方式赚取流量，这也是无可厚非，并不违反规定。”特斯拉没有立即回应置评请求。
“Tesla has been played by Pinduoduo — it got all the attention and free advertising and in the end didn’t bear any responsibility,” said one user on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform.
一位微博(Weibo)用户表示：“感觉特斯拉被拼多多玩得团团转啊。借机火了好几把，打了无数免费广告，到最后自己什么责任都没。”