小米文件引发造车猜想

China’s smartphone maker Xiaomi has hinted at plans to build electric vehicles as tech groups increasingly look to cars as next-generation smart devices.

中国智能手机制造商小米(Xiaomi)暗示其计划制造电动汽车。目前各家科技集团日益将汽车视为下一代智能设备。

In a regulatory filing in India publicised on Tuesday, Xiaomi said it may sell “all types of vehicles for transport, conveyance and other transport equipment, whether based on electricity or any other motive or mechanical power, including the components, spare parts” in India.

小米周二在向印度监管机构提交的一份申报文件中表示，它可能在印度销售“各种交通、传送和其他运输设备，包括部件、备件，无论这些车辆是基于电动、其他任何动力还是机械动力”。

The company has not announced any concrete plans to make electric vehicles in its native China and said it was not currently seeking any licences or permission to produce them. “We have nothing in the pipeline,” said one company employee.

该公司尚未宣布任何在中国本土生产电动汽车的具体计划，并表示，目前没有寻求生产电动汽车的执照或许可。一位公司员工表示：“我们没有规划任何东西。”

Lei Jun, the company’s celebrity founder, last pronounced on the possibility of making a car at the beginning of 2017 — then ruling out that it would happen within “next three to five years”.

该公司的知名创始人雷军上一次在2017年初宣布有可能制造汽车，随后又排除了“今后3到5年”这么做的可能性。

But Chinese social media took that as a hint that Xiaomi was planning an entry into this market, as Chinese tech companies increasingly looked to apply their design and marketing skills in the car industry.

但随着中国科技公司日益将它们的设计和营销技巧应用于汽车行业，中国社交媒体将此视为小米计划进入这个市场的迹象。

Tech savvy Chinese consumers increasingly see in-car “connectivity” — being able to do tasks such as shopping and browsing social media while on the road — as an important aspect in choosing a car.

精通科技的中国消费者在选择汽车时日益将车内“连通性”——在路上可以做购物和浏览社交媒体之类的事情——视为一个重要考虑。

Sixty-four per cent of Chinese polled by McKinsey in a study published last month said they would switch brands for better in-car connectivity, compared with 37 per cent of Americans and 19 per cent of Germans. In China, “Connectivity is a must-have feature”, the report said.

麦肯锡(McKinsey)在上月发布的一份研究报告中表示，受访的中国人有64%表示，他们将会因更好的车内连通性而改换品牌，而美国人和德国人的这一比例分别为37%和19%。该报告称，在中国，“连通性是一项必备功能”。

Chinese alternatives to car software such as Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto are growing.

苹果(Apple)的CarPlay和谷歌(Google)的Android Auto等汽车软件的中国替代品正在增长。

Baidu, China’s answer to Google, launched Baidu CarLife in 2017, which integrates smartphones with car display screens and links artificial intelligence with speech recognition.

中国的搜索引擎百度(Baidu)在2017年推出了百度CarLife，它将智能手机与汽车显示屏整合在一起，并将人工智能与语音识别连接起来。

Alibaba’s joint venture with Chinese carmaker SAIC, named Banma, recently released an in-car “operating system”.

阿里巴巴(Alibaba)与中国汽车制造商上汽集团(SAIC)成立的合资企业斑马(Banma)最近推出了一款车内“操作系统”。

Future Mobility, a new electric car venture, said it would launch the Byton — short for “Bytes on wheels” — next year, with a large dashboard screen. It said it saw its car as “the next generation smart device”.

一家新的电动汽车企业Future Mobility表示，它将于明年推出配备大尺寸仪表盘显示屏的“拜滕”汽车（Byton，“Bytes on wheels”的缩写）。该公司将其汽车视为“下一代智能设备”。

BMW is producing a version of its 5 Series for China, the 5 Series Li, that boasts two screens in the front, one 12-inch and one 10-inch, and three in the rear.

宝马(BMW)正在生产中国版的宝马5系列——5 Series Li，并宣称该车前排有两个分别为12英寸和10英寸的屏幕，后排座位还有3个屏幕。

But Xiaomi is the first major Chinese tech company even to allude to building whole cars, a plan that would nevertheless be in line with its business model. The group was once China’s hottest tech start-up but now has settled into a comfortable existence making internet-connected versions of goods aimed at the country’s middle class, from smartphones to rice cookers.

但小米是中国首家提到要制造整车的大型科技公司，然而这样的计划仍符合其商业模式。小米一度是中国最炙手可热的科技初创企业，但现在已进入舒适区，制造各种网联产品，从智能手机到电饭煲，产品面向中国的中产阶层。

More than 200 companies have announced plans to build electric cars in China.

已有逾200家公司宣布了在中国制造电动汽车的计划。