【英语中国】斯巴鲁汽车瞄准中国和俄罗斯市场

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru-brand cars, may offer vehicles in emerging markets through its partnership with Toyota Motor Corp., a company executive said Monday.

Tokyo-based Fuji Heavy has fallen behind its rivals in emerging markets mainly because of a lack of smaller models more suited to demand in those countries.

'It is hard to meet demand in all emerging markets on our own,' Akira Mabuchi, a senior vice president at Fuji Heavy said in an interview. 'We don't have any concrete plans at the moment, but it would be natural for us' to source more models from Toyota, he said. Toyota owns a 16% stake in Fuji Heavy.

Fuji Heavy is focusing on China and Russia as it thinks there may also be demand for its existing lineup of midsize four-wheel drive vehicles and sports cars there.

Daihatsu Motor Co. -- Toyota's small-car subsidiary -- currently produces minicars and compact vehicles for Fuji Heavy. Toyota plans to supply a small model to its partner by the end of this year.

Fuji Heavy's sales volume in China is still well below those of its Japanese rivals, and it is one of the few Japanese companies without a factory in the biggest auto market.

'We would need at least 100,000 [vehicle sales per year] to begin local production' in China, Mr. Mabuchi said.

But he stopped short of predicting when the company's sales in China would hit that level. Fuji Heavy is targeting China sales of 50,000 vehicles in 2010, after its sales there in 2009 grew 86% from a year earlier to about 35,000 vehicles.

Despite its relative lack of penetration in emerging markets, Fuji Heavy, Japan's eighth-largest auto maker by sales volume, expects its operating profit to recover to 94% of prefinancial crisis levels mainly because of solid sales in its biggest market, the U.S.

The executive attributed the company's growing U.S. sales in part to a shift in demand from large light trucks to midsize vehicles after the financial crisis.

The company's sales rose 39% to 227,000 vehicles in the U.S. in the latest fiscal year ended March. It aims to boost its U.S. sales by 7.3% to 243,700 vehicles in the current fiscal year.

周一，斯巴鲁(Subaru)汽车的制造商──富士重工(Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.)的高管说，公司可能会通过与丰田汽车公司(Toyota Motor Co.)合作向新兴市场提供汽车。

主要由于缺乏更符合这些国家需求的小型车，总部位于东京的富士重工在新兴市场中已落后于其它竞争对手。

富士重工高级副总裁万宝至彰(Akira Mabuchi)在接受采访时说，靠我们自己的力量难以满足所有新兴市场的需求。此刻我们还没有任何实质性计划，但从丰田公司获得更多车型对我们而言是很自然的事。丰田公司拥有富士重工16%的股份。

富士重工目前将重点放在中国和俄罗斯，因为它认为这两个地方或许也存在对其现有的四驱中型车和运动型车的需求。

丰田公司主要生产小型车的子公司──大发汽车公司(Daihatsu Motor Co.)目前为富士重工生产微型车和紧凑型车。丰田公司计划在今年年底之前向其合作伙伴提供一款小型车。

富士重工的在华汽车销量仍远远落后于其日本竞争对手，并且它是少数几家未在这个世界最大的汽车市场中设立工厂的日本公司之一。

万宝至彰说，（年销量）至少要达到100,000辆之后，我们才会开始在（中国）当地生产汽车。

但他却没有预测该公司的在华销量何时能达到这一水平。富士重工2010年的在华销售目标为50,000辆。其2009年在华销售同比增长86%，达35,000辆。

按销量计，富士重工是日本第八大汽车制造商。尽管它在新兴市场中的渗透度相对不足，但主要由于在其最大市场──美国的销量可观，富士重工预计其运营利润将恢复到其金融危机前水平的94%。

万宝至彰认为富士重工在美销量的增长在一定程度上是由于市场需求在金融危机后发生了变化，从大型轻型卡车转变成中型车。

在今年3月截止的上一财年，富士重工在美销量增长39%，至227,000辆。公司的目标是：本财年在美销量增长7.3%，至243,700辆。