【英语科技】中国本土汽车品牌难唱主角 Foreign brands prevail

That the Chinese car market has surpassed the US to become the world’s largest is a source of immense pride for the architects of China’s car boom. That the market is dominated by foreign brands is not, write Henry Foy and Tom Mitchell.

Chinese branded cars together account for less than 40 per cent of the total market of more than 18m vehicles in China, trailing well behind market leaders such as Germany’s Volkswagen and General Motors of the US.

In the past, that gap was accepted because of rules that mean all foreign carmakers have to operate in China in a joint venture with a local player. Those rules were engineered to help Chinese companies get a foot up in the market by learning from their global partners, while both companies made money.

But now the gap is growing at a rate that is alarming many in China, sparking a debate about how to reshape restrictions to encourage domestic players.

At the same time, global brands that have become very rich selling cars to China’s growing middle class are considering ways to take a bigger slice of their joint ventures, and in some cases, joint-venture partners.

Volkswagen is considering increasing its stake in its Chinese joint venture with state-owned FAW to 50 per cent, from 40 per cent currently, chief executive Martin Winterkorn was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview last year.

Daimler, which sells Mercedes-Benz cars in China in a joint venture with Beijing Automotive, set a precedent last year when it bought a 12 per cent stake in the Chinese carmaker for ￠625m.

Whether Volkswagen or others follow Daimler’s lead by taking more control of their Chinese operations, and a bigger slice of the profits, depends a great deal on the Chinese government.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said earlier this year that it may loosen ownership restrictions on the foreign joint ventures, but declined to provide a timeline.

“China has been saying for a long time that there has to be more local content and more development of technology inside China,” said an automotive consultant who works with carmakers operating in China.

“That tension has always been there and now that the market has become so important, China has leverage over these international [manufacturers].”

中国已经超过美国成为世界第一大汽车市场，为中国汽车繁荣的创造者带来巨大的自豪感。但中国汽车市场主要被外国品牌占据，这就不值得骄傲了。

中国汽车年销量超过1800万辆，但中国品牌汽车仅占不到40%的份额，远远落后于德国大众(Volkswagen)和美国通用汽车(General Motors)等外国企业。

过去，人们可以接受这种差距，因为根据规定，所有在华经营的外国汽车厂商必须与本土厂商建立合资企业。这一规定旨在帮助中国企业通过向跨国合作伙伴学习，提高市场竞争力，而中外资企业都能赚到钱。

但如今，差距扩大之快令许多人警醒，并引发一场辩论：如何调整限制性规则，促进国内企业发展？

与此同时，跨国车企——面向中国日益壮大的中产阶层销售汽车已使它们获利丰厚——正在考虑如何提高自身在合资企业中的出资比例，在某些情况下则是持有合资伙伴的股权。

大众与中国国有企业一汽(FAW)组成了合资公司。大众首席执行官文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)去年在接受报纸采访时表示，大众正考虑将其在合资企业中的持股比例从目前的40%提高到50%。

戴姆勒(Daimler)已经创下先例。这家与北汽(Beijing Automotive)成立合资企业在华销售梅赛德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)的厂商，去年以6.25亿欧元收购了北汽12%的股份。

奔驰等企业是否将追随戴姆勒的足迹，增强对中国业务的控制权，并从中分得更大份额的利润，在很大程度上取决于中国政府。

中国工信部今年早些时候表示，可能放松对中外合资企业的所有权限制，但拒绝透露具体的时间表。

“中国很久以来一直表示，要提高本土成分，增加中国国内的技术开发，”一位为在华外企提供服务的汽车行业顾问表示。

“紧张关系一直存在。鉴于这个市场变得如此重要，中国拥有影响这些国际厂商的能力。”

译者/何黎