汽车市场的天平正倾向高端品牌

    对于豪车品牌来说，更值得担心的是随着他们的车型价格的下探，他们长期以来建立的声誉是否会受到影响。历史证明豪车贱卖也有失败的例子。记性好的人可能还记得上世纪80年代通用汽车曾试图把雪佛兰Cavalier改成一款叫做凯迪拉克西马伦（Cimarron）的车型；另外在本世纪头10年，奔驰也推出了一辆差强人意的C230机械增压掀背车。雷克萨斯的老板马克•汤普林警告道，30,000美元是高端品牌的红线。他对《汽车新闻》表示：“以雷克萨斯的质量、耐久性、可靠性、工艺品质和配置，不可能卖到3万美元以下还有利润。根本做不到。”

    然而有风险就有回报。大胆的尝试也给高端品牌带来了高销量和高利润。比如奔驰的前驱紧凑型轿车CLA的起价只有29,900美元，但从年初到现在，它的销量已经达到12,954台。我试驾过的那辆CLA具有非常复杂的设计，内饰的感觉也很相称。奥迪则将它的精华功能重新布局在A3里，它的建议零售价也只有30,975美元，但并没有牺牲多少该品牌一贯的质量。

    低价车型很难实现高端厂商以往那种丰厚的利润。宝马的利润目标是8%到10%，但对于宝马1系、2系等低利润车型来说，要实现这样的利润是有压力的。但目前，1系、2系的销量已经从宝马公司全系车型销量的25%到30%上升到了现在的40%。

    戴姆勒（Daimler）CEO迪特尔•柴奇希望推动梅塞德斯-奔驰成为业内利润率最高的豪车品牌，也就是达到10%的利润目标。但是光靠销售3万美元的CLA恐怕是很难实现这个目标的。据汽车网站Edmunds.com指出，10年前，梅塞德斯-奔驰的交易价格要比行业平均水平高出93%。到了2013年，这个数字已经下降到75%。

    也不是每个高端品牌都参与了大扩张。本田（Honda）旗下一向表现平平的高端品牌讴歌似乎永远都在转型。虽然一开始也被设计成高端品牌，但是讴歌这种“低调的奢华”一直没有什么市场。日产的英菲尼迪也仍然缺乏强烈的认同和声誉。今年年初，英菲尼迪又遭受了一次重大损失——被外界寄予厚望的领导人约翰•德•尼琛跳槽到了凯迪拉克。

    尼琛在凯迪拉克的第一个任务，就是如何提高紧凑车ATS和全尺寸轿车XTS的销量，因为这两款车的表现都比较令人失望，电动车型ELR的销量几乎更是可以忽略不计。等他在底特律待了一阵之后，他说不定会希望能回到德国，毕竟在那里，他会更接近豪车业务的中心。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    More worrisome for luxury manufacturers is the damage that could be done to long-established reputations as they move down the price ladder. History provides some lessons in how not to succeed. Those with long memories will recall GM’s efforts to turn a Chevrolet Cavalier into the Cadillac Cimarron in the 1980s or Mercedes’ half-hearted C230 Kompressor hatchback from the early aughts. Lexus boss Mark Templin warns that a $30,000 price may be the cut off. “You can’t build a Lexus with the quality, the durability, the reliability, the craftsmanship, the content that we put in a Lexus and sell it profitably under $30,000,” he tells Automotive News. “You just can’t do it.

    But where there is risk, there can be reward, and aggressive behavior has been paying off where it counts: higher sales and richer profits. Mercedes has been selling a front-wheel drive compact sedan, the CLA, for the better part of a year with a starting price of $29,900 and has moved 12,954 units in calendar 2014. The CLA I drove had a surprisingly sophisticated design and a smartly fitted interior. Likewise, Audi has managed to reinterpret its best features in the A3, which carries a MSRP of $30,975, without sacrificing too many of the brand’s traditional qualities.

    Lower-price cars make it difficult to achieve the lush profits upscale makers are used to. BMW has margin targets of 8-10%, but that will be under pressure as the proportion of smaller, lower-margin cars like the 1- and 2-series rises to more than 40 percent of the group’s overall vehicle sales from 25-30 percent currently.

    Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche is pushing for Mercedes to become the most profitable luxury-auto producer with a 10% margin goal, but he will have a hard time doing so by selling $30,000 CLA’s. A decade ago, Mercedes Benz transaction prices were 93% higher than the industry average. In 2013, that number went down to 75%, according to Edmunds.com.

    Not every manufacturer is sharing in the swelling of the luxury brand market. Honda’s traditionally under-performing Acura seems to be in perpetual transition. Originally designed as a step-up brand, it has never been able to market its interpretation of frugal luxury. Nissan’s Infiniti, meanwhile, still lacks a strong identity and established reputation. It suffered a big loss earlier this year when its highly regarded leader Johan de Nysschen, who had been recruited from Audi, defected to equally-needy Cadillac.

    De Nysschen’s first task will be propping up sales of the compact ATS and fullsize XTS, both of which have been disappointing, and the electric ELR, whose sales have been invisible. After he has been in Detroit for awhile, he may wish he is back in Germany, where he would be closer to heart of the luxury car business.