沃尔沃在中、美市场销量下滑

Volvo Cars’sales have fallen by more than 10 per cent in China and the US so far this year, underlining the scale of the task facing the Swedish carmaker’s new chief executive.

今年迄今，沃尔沃汽车公司(Volvo Cars)在中国和美国的销量降低逾10%，凸显这家瑞典汽车制造商的新任首席执行官所面临的艰巨任务。

H?kan Samuelsson, former head of truckmaker MAN, took over last month. He has told colleagues his initial priority is to ensure that the carmaker focuses aggressively on costs to at least break even .

卡车制造商MAN前首席执行官霍坎·萨穆埃尔松(H?kan Samuelsson)上个月刚开始执掌沃尔沃。他向同事们表示，他的当务之急是大刀阔斧削减运营成本，起码要实现收支平衡。

Mr Samuelsson is still finalising his plan but it seems likely that job losses will be involved as he scrutinises spending across the company in administrative and manufacturing jobs.

萨穆埃尔松正在最后修订他的计划。不过，在仔细审视沃尔沃的管理及生产岗位开支之后，他很可能会推出裁员方案。

The situation is complicated by the Swedish company lacking the scale of bigger rivals such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes. In the first 10 months of this year it sold 347,532 cars, down 6 per cent on the previous year. BMW by contrast sold 1.34m cars in the first nine months of the year.

由于规模不及更大的竞争对手宝马(BMW)、奥迪(Audi)以及梅塞德斯(Mercedes)，沃尔沃的处境更加艰难。今年前10个月该公司轿车销量为347532辆，同比下降6%。相比之下，宝马今年前9个月轿车销量为134万辆。

“It is incredibly challenging to develop new platforms, go into new niches. Funding all this with such a small volume, it is a huge challenge, said Arndt Ellinghorst, analyst at Credit Suisse. He noted that Volkswagen sells 1.1m cars of one model, the Passat.

瑞信(Credit Suisse)分析师阿恩特·埃林霍斯特(Arndt Ellinghorst)表示：“想开发新平台、寻找新的市场定位，挑战极大。沃尔沃销量这么低，要完成这么大的动作是一项巨大挑战。他提醒道，大众(Volkswagen)仅Passat轿车就卖出了110万量。

Mr Samuelsson unexpectedly took over from Stefan Jacoby, a former VW executive who headed Volvo for two years but who suffered a mild stroke last month. However, Volvo directors justified the move not because of Mr Jacoby’s health but because of its poor financial performance and weakness in China, home market to its owner, the carmaker Geely.

萨穆埃尔松是从前大众高管斯蒂芬·雅各布(Stefan Jacoby)手中出人意料地接掌沃尔沃的。雅各布此前领导沃尔沃两年，上个月他曾发生轻度中风。不过沃尔沃董事会确认，最新任命并非因为雅各布的健康原因，而是因为该公司财务状况不佳以及在中国表现疲软——中国正是其母公司——汽车生产商吉利(Geely)的本土市常

Geely’s other significant overseas investment, Manganese Bronze, the London taxi company, is in even worse trouble, having gone into administration last month.

另一家吉利在海外投入巨资控股的公司——伦敦出租车制造商锰铜控股(Manganese Bronze)，已经陷入更大的麻烦，上个月进入破产保护程序。

Volvo’s sales in China this October were down 12 per cent on the same month last year while those in the US were 14 per cent lower. Europe provided a rare bright spot, with sales up 4 per cent.

沃尔沃今年10月对华销量同比下降12%，而其在美国市场的销量则下降14%。沃尔沃汽车在欧洲市场的表现可谓难得的亮点，销量上升了4%。

Volvo is struggling to maintain its profitability, hence Mr Samuelsson’s focus on costs as well as recent production stoppages in factories in Sweden and Belgium.

沃尔沃正努力维持盈利能力，因此萨穆埃尔松要集中精力解决公司运营成本较高以及近来瑞典和比利时工厂停产的问题。

The company, which was spun out of the truckmaker Volvo more than a decade ago and sold to Ford before Geely bought it in 2010, recorded a net loss of SKr254m ($38m) in the first half of this year. It managed an operating profit of SKr239m in the same period, but this was a decrease of 84 per cent on a year earlier.

十多年前，沃尔沃汽车从卡车生产商沃尔沃(Volvo)分离出来，之后卖给了福特(Ford)，2010年又被吉利收购。今年上半年，该公司报出2.54亿瑞典克朗（合3800万美元）的净亏损。尽管同期该公司的营业利润达2.39亿瑞典克朗，但同比下滑了84%。