VOA标准英语2009年-Renault-Nissan Says Ultra Low-Cost Car Wil

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
10 November 2009

The boss of the automakers Renault and Nissan has announced the companies will team with an Indian partner to launch the most affordable³ car in the country.

It appears the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, launched this year in India, will soon get some competition.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Renault and Nissan, revealed the French and Japanese automakers have agreed to work with Bajaj Auto¹ to introduce a new ultra low-cost four-wheeled passenger vehicle in 2012.

 
Carlos Ghosn, CEO and President of Renault of France and Nissan of Japan
"I am practically sure that the cost of this car will be lower than any other car made today in India," Ghosn said.

Ghosn also says the new car will have the best performance on the market for a production conventional engine in terms of kilometers per liters of fuel consumed.

Bajaj, a maker² of motorcycles and three-wheeled taxis, known as auto rickshaws, is to design and build the new car with assistance from the French company, which is to market and sell the vehicle in India and abroad under the Renault/Nissan brands.

The car, not yet named, will compete with Tata's Nano, which hit Indian roads this year and sells for little more than $2,000. General Motors of the United States and Toyota of Japan have also previously⁴ announced plans to launch, within the next couple of years, small passenger cars in India.

Renault-Nissan next year is to open a passenger car factory in the southern Indian city of Chennai with a capacity to make 400,000 vehicles a year. But the new joint⁵ venture small car is to be made at a Bajaj plant near Pune, in western India.

 
Tata's Nano
The French-Japanese automaker ranks in the top four globally, accounting⁶ for a 10 percent market share. But its success in India has been more modest, trailing most competitors.

Ghosn calls sales here of its Logan brand mid-sized sedan, a money-losing joint venture with domestic automaker Mahindra, not up to expectations.

"We cannot just accept a situation where in India we represent less than one percent market share," he explained. "That is absolutely out of question. We have to adapt to the Indian market. We have to adapt to the product that the Indian people want. We need to bring what the people want exactly in the kind of performance that they are looking for, both in terms of product, in terms of technology and in price and in term of [fuel consumption]."
Ghosn is bullish on the future of India's automotive sector⁷, with a population of more than one billion people, but where annual new car sales are around two million vehicles. The Renault Nissan top executives predict the number of autos sold in India will triple in 10 years as more of India's 50 million motorcycle owners move from two wheels to four.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

3 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。