经济学人469:中土王国汽车制造商 一朝得志

 　　China's carmakers

　　中土王国汽车制造商

　　Zoom², zoom, splutter

　　一朝得志，语无伦次

　　SAIC's domestic brands are unloved—a problem shared across the industry

　　上汽集团的国内品牌不受消费者欢迎，然而，这却是整个产业所遇到的问题

　　CHINA'S biggest carmaker does not seem to be doing so badly, a first glance at SAIC's third quarter results on October 30th would suggest. Net profits rose by nearly 5% compared with a year earlier, to 6.8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion). But SAIC, like the country's many other domestic car firms, is not firing on all cylinders³ and is far from living up to the hopes the government has invested in the state giant.

　　上汽集团在10月30日发布了本年第三季度报，乍一看之下，这家全中土王国最大汽车制造商的成绩似乎还过得去：与去年同期相比，净利润增长约5%，达到了68亿元人民币（约11亿美元）。然而，就像中土王国国内其余众多厂商一样，上汽集团不仅没有开足马力进行生产，同时也辜负了政府对这家汽车业国营巨头的期待。

　　汽车制造商.jpg

　　SAIC makes a quarter of the vehicles that crawl along the country's congested roads. In the third quarter it sold 1.3m cars, 9% more than a year earlier. Overall Chinese demand, tempered by a cooling economy, grew by just 4%. But SAIC's success was mostly due not to cars bearing its own badges, but Volkswagen and General Motors models, made in factories jointly⁵ operated with these two Western giants.

　　目前，在中土王国拥挤不堪的道路上，有四分之一的轿车是上汽集团生产的。在本年第三季度期间，该企业共卖出了1300万辆轿车，比去年同期高出了9%。而相比之下，由于受到了经济下行的影响，今年中土王国汽车总需求量仅增长了4%。但上汽集团斐然的成果，不是由自家品牌所贡献出来的，而是通过与德国大众（Volkswagen）以及美国通用汽车（General Motors）这两大西方巨头的联合，在合资企业里所推出的车型当中取得的。

　　Foreign carmakers were forced to collaborate⁶ with Chinese ones as the price for entering what is now the world's largest automotive market. SAIC's partnerships⁷ with VW and GM are flourishing, as are the other Chinese-foreign joint⁴ ventures. The government had hoped that, by now, domestic firms would have absorbed all they needed to know from the foreigners about making and selling world-class cars, and be ready to get by without them.

　　要进入中土王国这个目前全球最大的汽车销售市场，得付出一定的准入代价：外国汽车制造商必须要与本土厂商成立合资企业来进行生产销售。不仅是上汽集团正与大众、通用合作无间，其他中外合资车厂也呈现出欣欣向荣的态势。中土王国政府本期待着现在国内制造商们已经学习吸收了一切必备的外来经验技术，并且已经做好了自力更生的准备以生产“世界级”轿车，但事情不尽如人意。

　　But the success of the joint ventures has made the Chinese firms complacent⁸. They have failed to develop their own technology, styling or marketing⁹ capability¹⁰. SAIC has long been losing money on its own-brand cars, which sell under badges such as Roewe and MG (the latter a faded British brand it bought along with other parts of the collapsed¹¹ Rover Group). In the latest quarter the losses rose sharply, to around 2 billion yuan. A vicious circle has set in: the poor financial performance of Chinese firms' own brands has sapped their will to invest in research and development to improve their performance on the road and in the showrooms. Little wonder, then, that Chinese motorists spurn¹² pleas for patriotism¹³ and covet¹⁴ foreign-badged motors.

　　然而，合资企业的成功已经让中土王国制造商们欣喜不已。他们没有成功地发展出自己的生产技术、设计风格以及市场推广体系。在自有品牌的车型上，上汽集团已经损失了很多资金，其中包括“荣威”（Roewe）和“名爵”（MG，一个已经没落了的英国品牌），后者是上汽集团在“路虎”（Rover Group）破产之时一并买入的汽车牌子之一。在最近一季期间，上述部分的亏损额迅猛增加，达到了20亿元人民币。这是一个恶性循环：国产品牌的表现越差，中土王国制造商就越不愿意投入资金以提高技术研发能力，或者提高国产车无论是在行驶中还是在汽车展厅当中的表现。这也就能解释了，为何中土王国司机们会唾弃在驾驶上的展现爱国主义情怀的机会，反倒是极力推崇外国品牌的轿车。

　　The government has tried to fix the problem by pressing the foreign carmakers to work with the locals to create new brands combining international flair¹⁵ with Chinese characteristics. So far this has made little difference: Chinese brands account for only about one-third of domestic sales, and their share continues to dwindle¹⁶.

　　中土王国政府想要通过强迫外国制造商与本土企业的合作来解决上述问题，希望能够创造出一批新的品牌，一批能够把国际上的优点与中土王国特色相结合的品牌。迄今为止，以上努力近乎徒劳，国产牌子的汽车仅占中土王国国内汽车销售的三分之一，而且该市场份额还在缩小。

　　Chinese vehicles have not travelled well. Exports, mostly to poor countries where drivers care about price more than image, were fewer than 600,000 in 2013, 10% lower than the year before. SAIC's hopes that Rover Group's brands and technology would help it do better in rich countries have yet to be met. Three years after it relaunched the MG brand in Britain, it is selling just a few hundred cars a month there. Likewise Geely, a smaller Chinese maker¹, has yet to see much benefit from buying Volvo of Sweden.

　　中土王国汽车的发展目前仍是处于“菜鸟”阶段。2013年全年汽车出口量已经不足60万，与前年同期相比下降了10%，而出口的汽车大部分是运往贫困国家。相比于外观而言，当地的消费者更在意的是价格。上汽集团希望能通过“路虎”旗下的品牌和技术，来提升自己在发达国家的市场地位，而这一想法还有待实现。三年前，上汽集团在英国重新推出了“名爵”汽车，而现在该牌子的销量也仅仅为每月数百辆而已。同样地，较小的中土王国汽车制造商“吉利”汽车，仍未从瑞典沃尔沃（Volvo）汽车收购案当中获得可观的回报。

　　China's carmakers are still trying to improve. A recent survey from JD Power, a market-research firm, shows that the quality gap with foreign rivals is closing. The Chinese firms are busy hiring Western designers to make their models more distinguished¹⁷. But like many of its peers, SAIC lacks foreign managers who have the skills to market cars abroad and set up the service networks that buyers expect. No wonder the government's ambition for China to boast two or three world-class car firms, with badges as recognisable as Toyotas or Fords, remains¹⁸ a distant dream.

　　中土王国汽车制造商仍旧在努力提升自己。最近，一份由市场分析机构JD Power所做的调查显示，中土王国国产品牌汽车与外国对手的质量差距正在逐渐缩小。中土王国厂商们正忙着聘请西方设计师去完成车型的设计，力求“与众不同”。但就像其他许多同行一样，上汽集团缺乏来自国外的管理者，一些能够让汽车进行市场推广走出国门，并且能够建立满足于消费者期待的服务网络的管理者。中土王国政府想要培养出两三个能够生产“殿堂级”汽车的制造商，想要培养出能够跟丰田（Toyota）和福特（Ford）一样家喻户晓的厂商，在如此多的不利因素的作用之下，也难怪这些个“雄心壮志”最后只成了一个“中国梦”。

1 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。

2 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

3 cylinders   

n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物

参考例句：

• They are working on all cylinders to get the job finished. 他们正在竭尽全力争取把这工作干完。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That jeep has four cylinders. 那辆吉普车有4个汽缸。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

6 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

7 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

8 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

10 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

11 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

12 spurn   

v.拒绝，摈弃；n.轻视的拒绝；踢开

参考例句：

• They spurn all our offers of help.他们拒绝接受我们提出的一切援助。
• As an armyman,I spurn fearlessly at all danger and the enemy.作为一个军人，一切危险和敌人丝毫不在我的眼。

13 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

14 covet   

vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)

参考例句：

• We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
• Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。

15 flair   

n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design.他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• He had a natural flair for business.他有做生意的天分。

16 dwindle   

v.逐渐变小（或减少）

参考例句：

• The factory's workforce has dwindled from over 4,000 to a few hundred.工厂雇员总数已经从4,000多人减少到几百人。
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority.他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。

17 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。