中国汽车制造商拟打入中高端市场

Several of China's leading carmakers are relaunching brands from the past, including Mao Zedong's famous Red Flag limousine, in a bid to capitalise on nostalgia for an era when China made very few cars — but those they made were grand ones.

中国数家领先汽车制造商正重新启用昔日的品牌，包括毛泽东的座驾、著名的“红旗”牌豪华轿车。此举意在利用人们的怀旧之情——当年中国的汽车产量虽然很少，但它生产出来的汽车都很有气派。

But there is scant evidence that Chinese car buyers are hankering for the good old days when state-owned manufacturers made cars named after Beijing, Shanghai or the red flag of communism.

但几乎没有什么证据显示，中国购车族渴望回到“美好的往昔”——那时，国有制造商生产以“北京”、“上海”或代表共产主义的“红旗”为品牌的汽车。

China may be the world's largest car market, but China has yet to build a car industry to be proud of. Foreign carmakers dominate the market, and the local industry is losing market share.

中国也许是全球最大的汽车市场，但中国尚未建立起值得骄傲的汽车产业。外国汽车制造商主导着中国市场，本土汽车产业正失去市场份额。

Chinese manufacturers are hoping to reverse that trend by unveiling a range of bigger, glitzier, sportier and more innovative models at the Beijing motor show, which opens today.

中国制造商希望扭转这一趋势。在今日开幕的北京汽车展上，它们将发布一系列更大、更亮丽、更具运动感、更加创新的车型。

Analysts say it could be a critical moment for the Chinese industry, which has less than 30 per cent of the local market.

分析师们表示，对占本土市场份额不到30%的中国汽车业来说，这可能是一个关键时刻。

Three decades after Beijing set out to build a world class car industry — signing landmark joint venture agreements with Volkswagen and General Motors to partner state-owned manufacturers — brands owned by Volkswagen and GM still dominate, while Chinese brands remain stuck in the hyper-competitive low end of the market.

30年前，北京方面开始打造世界级的汽车产业，中国国有制造商与大众汽车(VW)和通用汽车(GM)签署了里程碑式的合资协议。今天，大众和通用旗下的品牌仍占据中国市场主导地位，而中国品牌仍徘徊在竞争极其激烈的低端市场。

In general, foreign-branded cars are seen as more reliable, more stylish, more impressive and better value for money than Chinese-branded models, which continue to compete almost entirely on price.

总体来说，与中国品牌的车型相比，外国品牌的汽车被视为更可靠、造型更时尚、更令人印象深刻，也更加物有所值。中国品牌仍几乎完全靠价格竞争。

In the past year, Beijing has taken several steps to reverse the decline, banning most official fleet purchases of foreign brands and forcing overseas makers like GM and VW to develop indigenous brands with their joint venture partners in a bid to ensure a more rapid transfer of -technology.

过去一年里，北京方面已采取多个步骤扭转本土品牌的颓势，包括禁止大多数公车采购选择外国品牌，并迫使通用和大众等海外制造商与各自的中方合资伙伴一起研发自主品牌，以求实现更快的技术转移。

Nissan will launch Venucia, its own brand with joint venture partner Dongfeng Motors, at the Beijing auto show, for example. But most industry analysts say those measures are likely to provide only a small boost to local carmakers' market share — or could depress it even -further.

例如，日产(Nissan)将在北京汽车展上发布其与中方合资伙伴东风汽车(Dongfeng Motors)联合研发的自主品牌启辰(Venucia)。但是，多数分析师表示，此类措施很可能只会小幅提升本土汽车制造商的市场份额，甚至还有可能进一步压低它们的份额。

Klaus Paur, car industry analyst at Ipsos in Shanghai, says: "In the past few years we have seen a dramatic loss of market share for Chinese branded vehicles, while international carmakers have done a very good job of penetrating the lower end of the market."

益普索(Ipsos)驻上海的汽车业分析师包亦农(Klaus Paur)表示：“过去几年里，我们看到中国品牌汽车的市场份额大幅下降，而海外汽车制造商在打入低端市场方面做得很出色。”

"Sometimes international car manufacturers understand Chinese consumers better than Chinese manufacturers do," he adds.

“有时候海外汽车制造商比中国同行更加了解中国消费者，”他补充说。

Western carmakers are increasingly adapting their cars for the Chinese market: BMW, for example, will launch a long-wheelbase version of its ever-popular 3 series especially for the China market where many cars are chauffeur driven.

西方汽车制造商日趋针对中国市场调整汽车的设计。比如，宝马(BMW)将发布畅销的3系车型的长轴距版，这是专门面向中国市场开发的，因为这里有许多高档车是由专职司机驾驶的。

Chinese carmakers like Geely, Great Wall and SAIC — the three strongest — are working hard to enter the middle to upper segments of the market and many are launching sports utility vehicles to capture a trend toward more individualistic purchases by younger buyers. "But they are always running a little bit late," says Mr Paur.

中国汽车制造商，如吉利(Geely)、长城(Great Wall)和上汽(SAIC)这三家最强大的企业，正努力打入中高端市场。不少厂家将发布运动型多功能车(SUV)，以求抓住年轻买家购买更具个性色彩车型的趋势。“但它们总是慢一拍，”包亦农表示。

Ivo Naumann, head of AlixPartners in Shanghai, says: "The product still has to improve to be really on par with international brands."

咨询集团艾睿铂(AlixPartners)上海主管罗曼(Ivo Naumann)表示：“这些产品仍需要改进，才能真正与国际品牌平起平坐。”

"At the end of the day, I think it's a question of scale. None of the independent Chinese carmakers has a scale that could -truly compete with large global carmakers," he adds, noting that even Geely, which also owns Volvo, produces fewer than 1m cars a year while the global market leaders produce several times that.

“归根结底，我认为这是一个规模的问题。非合资的中国汽车制造商没有一家能够真正在规模上与大型海外同行较量，”他补充说。罗曼指出，即便是旗下拥有沃尔沃(Volvo)的吉利，汽车年产量也不到100万辆，而全球市场领先车企的年产量几倍于此。

Meanwhile, prevailing winds increasingly favour global carmakers, analysts say. As China gets richer, car buyers often want to upgrade to foreign models and as the first big wave of car buyers replaces their first car, many are increasingly willing to pay for foreign reliability, not to mention resale value.

与此同时，分析师们表示，情况越来越有利于海外汽车制造商。随着中国变得更富，汽车买家往往想要升级至国外车型，同时随着首批购车族纷纷换车，其中许多人越来越愿意为国外车型的可靠性（且不提转售价值）掏钱。

Even Beijing's decision to force foreign carmakers to create indigenous joint -venture brands could cannibalise demand for independent Chinese brands, says Bill Russo of Synergistics, a consultancy, who is also a former head of Chrysler in China.

汽车业咨询公司Synergistics总裁、克莱斯勒(Chrysler)前中国区负责人罗威(Bill Russo)表示，甚至连北京方面迫使外国汽车制造商创建自主合资品牌的决定，也可能侵蚀市场对非合资中国品牌的需求。

Kevin Wale, head of GM in China, told the Financial Times: "It's tough to establish a global reputation ... and once you have done that it tends not to go away."

通用汽车中国公司总裁甘文维(Kevin Wale)对英国《金融时报》表示：“建立全球声誉是很难的……而一旦你建立起来了，这种声誉往往会一直伴随着你，不会离开。

"The Japanese and -Koreans built up global reputations, but it took them 20 or 30 or 40 years — and that still did not erode the global advantage of those that existed before. I think our reputation [in China] will last for an incredibly long time."

“日本和韩国厂家建立起了全球声誉，但它们花了20、30甚至40年，即便那样也没有削弱比它们更早的老品牌的全球优势。我认为我们（在中国的）声誉将持续相当长的时间。”译者:和风