【英语科技】本田在华销量下滑 汽车厂商当引以为戒

In China, bad news for Honda comes with some warning signs for other auto makers.

The Japanese car maker has had a tough few months: Sales dropped 2.7% on year in June, Honda said on Monday, which compares with a 23.5% on-year rise for the industry as a whole. The company can't sell what it can't make, and production at some Honda plants was temporarily halted by workers' strikes. The company's City and Accord models were particularly hard hit.

So Honda could be viewed as a special case, against the backdrop of an industry that is still performing strongly in China. Its sales growth has lagged behind the overall auto sector, with its product portfolio skewed toward larger-engine cars, rather than the smaller models Beijing wants to encourage. Still, it's not the only car maker to see things slowing down.

Toyota's sales rose 7.7% on year in June, a much slower rate than its overall 27% on-year sales rise so far in 2010. BYD saw sales rise just 3.2% on year and the company looks like it will struggle to meet its annual target of 800,000 vehicle sales. At the halfway mark, it had only sold around 36% of that level.

Some of the slowdown can be put down to challenging comparisons: China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest auto market last year, with sales up by around 50% last year.

A repeat in 2010 was always going to be hard, especially with a car-sales tax cut partially reversed.

Competition, meanwhile, is intense. Domestic car makers are one source of growing pressure here, raising their proportion of total China auto sales to 32% in 2009 from 21% in 2004, according to consultants Alix Partners.

Those losing ground could face an overcapacity problem: J.D. Power says passenger-vehicle plant utilization could drop to 67% in 2010, some way below the 80% standard break-even level for the auto industry. It means prices may have to fall for car makers to maintain sales, putting pressure on margins.

China's auto market is still a positive story, but avoiding Honda-style slip-ups is getting more important.

在中国，本田公司(Honda)遭遇的坏消息给其他汽车生产商敲响了警钟。

这家日本汽车生产商度过了难熬的数月：本田周一说，6月份销量同比下滑2.7%；相比之下，汽车业整体同比增长了23.5%。该公司无法销售自己不能生产的产品，此外，一些本田工厂的生产因工人罢工而暂时停顿。该公司的锋范(City)和雅阁(Accord)受到的冲击尤其严重。

因此，在中国汽车业表现依旧强劲的大背景下，本田可以被视为一个个案。由于该公司的产品阵容向更大引擎汽车、而不是北京方面希望鼓励的较小型汽车倾斜，该公司的汽车销量增长落后于行业整体水平。尽管如此，本田并非唯一一家销量下滑的汽车生产商。

6月份，丰田汽车公司(Toyota)销量同比增长7.7%，较今年以来该公司27%的同比增速低了很多。比亚迪销量同比仅增长了3.2%，看起来该公司将难以实现今年80万辆的销售目标。2010年已经过半，而该公司仅实现了全年销售目标的约36%。

销量的放缓可以部分归因于复杂的比较因素：去年中国超越美国，成为全球最大的汽车市场，去年的销量增长了约50%。

2010年再创佳绩始终是很难的，特别是在汽车购置税减半措施部分取消之后。

与此同时，中国汽车业竞争激烈。据咨询公司Alix Partners的数据，国内汽车生产商是一个越来越大的压力来源，2009年占中国汽车销量的比例从2004年的21%上升到了32%。

那些失去地盘的公司可能会面临产能过剩的问题：消费研究机构J.D. Power说，2010年，乘用车生产厂的开工率可能会下滑至67%，低于汽车业80%这一标准的收支平衡水平。这意味着，汽车生产商必须降价来保持销量，进而给利润率带来压力。

中国汽车业形势依然乐观，不过避免本田式的错误正在变得越来越重要。