沃爾沃與吉利步入合作蜜月期
Stepping down from his aircraft in Belgium last November, Volvo’s Chinese chairman Li Shufu was appalled with his chauffeured car.
去年11月，沃爾沃(Volvo)董事長李書福在比利時一下飛機，等待他的那輛配備了司機的轎車就讓他大吃了一驚。Despite reassurances that the small, prosperous country was one of the world’s safest, he ordered that the next time he set foot in the country, he would be provided with a bulletproof car, three people briefed on the incident told the Financial Times.
3位知曉事件大概情況的人士告訴英國《金融時報》，儘管別人向李書福保證，這個富裕小國的治安非常好，但他仍然要求下次他來比利時時，有一輛防彈轎車在等待他。Culture clashes are not uncommon in cross-border business deals, and there are few partners more disparate than Volvo, the 87-year-old Swedish carmaker famed for its understated Scandinavian design and production quality, and Geely, its Chinese owner whose flagship product sells for roughly £10,000.
文化衝突在跨境商業交易中並不罕見，而合作雙方像沃爾沃和吉利(Geely)這樣差異巨大的卻是寥寥無幾。沃爾沃是一家有着87年曆史的瑞典汽車製造商，以低調的北歐設計風格和值得信賴的產品質量聞名於世；而沃爾沃的中國東家吉利，旗下旗艦產品的售價僅爲1萬英鎊左右。
After stumbling through its first couple of years under Geely’s ownership, a period marked by falling sales and friction between Swedish executives and Chinese owners, Volvo is back on track, officials told the Financial Times, because of compromises between Gothenburg and Hangzhou, and a strategy signed off in China that has been accepted in Sweden.
在被吉利收購之後，沃爾沃頭幾年經營不太順利，銷量不斷下降，瑞典方面高管與中國東家之間也摩擦不斷。不過有官員對英國《金融時報》表示，如今沃爾沃已回到正軌，原因在於哥特堡方面和杭州方面做出了妥協，一份在中國簽署的戰略協議也得到了瑞典方面的接受。“As long as we are inside the strategy, we have full freedom,” says chief executive Håkan Samuelsson. “There are restrictions of course financially and of course strategically . . . there is a defined strategy we must follow. But otherwise there is no interference on an operational level.”
沃爾沃首席執行官霍坎•薩穆埃爾鬆(Håkan Samuelsson)表示：“在不違反戰略協議的前提下，我們有充分自主權。當然，我們在財務和戰略方面受到一些限制……我們有必須遵循的明確戰略。不過，除此以外，我們在運營層面不會受到任何干涉。”Mr Samuelsson, an automotive veteran, was parachuted into the top job in October 2012 from the board of directors after the ousting of Stefan Jacoby, with whom Geely executives had disagreed over strategy.
薩穆埃爾鬆是汽車業的老將，2012年10月，斯特凡•雅各比(Stefan Jacoby)被免職後，他被董事會空降至沃爾沃掌門人的位置。之前雅各比與吉利高層在戰略上存在分歧。“Chairman Li has been very clear. We have a strategy making sure the traditional brand that holds in Europe and the US needs to be maintained, while at the same time leveraging its opportunity in developing markets like China,” says Xiaolin Yuan, head of Mr Li’s office and his representative in Sweden. “I do not think there is any ambiguity in this strategy or how Volvo will work together with Geely. I’m not saying there are no continued discussions on strategy and products . . . but there is absolutely no misalignment about whether we go this way or that,” Mr Yuan says.
沃爾沃汽車董事長辦公室主任、李書福在瑞典的代言人袁小林表示：“李書福董事長非常明確地表示過，我們的策略是一方面確保在歐美地位穩固的這個傳統品牌地位依然不變，同時還要利用在中國等新興市場的機遇。關於這一戰略、以及沃爾沃與吉利的合作方式，我認爲沒有任何含混之處。我的意思不是說今後在戰略和產品方面雙方不會繼續討論……而是說在戰略方向上絕不存在任何分歧。”Geely executives want flashy, eye-catching cars for the Chinese market, while Volvo stress their understated roots. Tensions simmered to the surface just months into Mr Samuelsson’s tenure when he emphasised the importance of Volvo’s roots, only for Mr Li to retort days later that he found the brand “too Scandinavian”.
對於中國市場，吉利方面的高管想要的是華麗而吸引眼球的車型，而沃爾沃則強調該品牌低調的傳統。在薩穆埃爾鬆上任僅幾個月時，雙方的緊張氣氛就到了一觸即發的地步，當時薩穆埃爾鬆強調沃爾沃保持傳統的重要性，而李書福則在幾天後反駁說，他覺得該品牌“太過北歐化”。Volvo is almost halfway through a five-year, $11bn investment plan that it – and Geely – hope will turn it into a leaner, more global carmaker that has retained its Scandinavian charm while leveraging low-cost Chinese sourcing and manufacturing skills.
沃爾沃有一項規模爲110億美元、爲期五年的投資計劃，該計劃目前差不多已進行到一半。該公司和吉利集團都希望這項計劃能讓沃爾沃變得更精幹、更全球化，在保持該品牌北歐魅力的同時，能夠利用中國的低成本採購和製造技術。The company will announce a “substantial” operating profit for 2013 later this month, according to Mr Samuelsson, as close to $250m of savings help the carmaker improve on a break-even position in 2012.
薩穆埃爾鬆表示，由於節省了近2.5億美元開支，2013年，這家汽車製造商在2012年實現收支平衡的基礎上更進一步，實現了“可觀的”營業利潤。該公司將於本月晚些時候公佈具體情況。Key to its future is a new vehicle family, designed with Geely, that will allow it to build smaller, lower-end models that share parts and designs with high-end Geely products, bridging the gap in brand power between owner and asset.
沃爾沃將與吉利共同設計一個新的汽車系列，主要是體積偏小、檔次偏低的車型，能夠與吉利的高端產品共享零配件和設計，這對沃爾沃的未來將是至關重要的一步。這一新系列也將填補吉利和沃爾沃之間品牌檔次差距的鴻溝。“Volvo cannot afford to be dragged [downwards],” says Mr Samuelsson. “Geely will move more than us . . . it has an ambition to move upwards towards us . . . There is a limit how big this band [of shared products] can be.”
薩穆埃爾鬆表示：“檔次被拉低對沃爾沃而言將是致命的。縮小差距主要靠吉利提升品牌檔次……吉利有追趕沃爾沃的雄心壯志……（共享產品的）規模將是有限的。”“There is no danger of a customer paying for a Volvo brand car that is essentially a Geely. That is stupid,” says Mr Yuan.
袁小林表示：“我們肯定不會讓顧客花沃爾沃的價錢，買來一輛吉利。這樣做是非常愚蠢的。”Much of Volvo’s future will depend on its fortunes in China and the US. The US was once by far its biggest market but was almost overtaken by China last year, as the group struggled with unsuitable products.
沃爾沃的未來在很大程度上要看它在中國和美國的經營情況。美國一度是沃爾沃的第一大市場，但由於沃爾沃缺乏適合該國市場的產品，去年美國的地位幾乎被中國超過。Increasing sales in the US and Europe will be tackled mainly by products designed to be exclusive to Volvo, while a sales push in China will be fuelled by products shared between it and Geely, according to two people with knowledge of the strategy.
兩位知悉該集團戰略的人士表示，在歐美，沃爾沃將主要通過獨家設計的產品取得銷量增長，而其在華銷量的增長則將由沃爾沃和吉利共同生產的產品推動。Mr Li, described as “very entrepreneurial and willing to take risks,” by one member of the Volvo board, shot Geely into global prominence when he bought Volvo from Ford in 2010. Two years later he swallowed up the London Taxi Company, maker of the iconic black Hackney cab.
李書福曾被沃爾沃董事會一名董事譽爲“極具企業家精神，願意承擔風險”。2010年他從福特(Ford)手中收購了沃爾沃，這一舉動讓全世界都知道了吉利。兩年後，他又收購了倫敦出租車公司(London Taxi Company)，該公司是倫敦標誌性黑色哈克尼(Hackney)出租車的生產商。His first influences on the Volvo brand will be seen this year with the XC90 SUV launch, the first model developed under Chinese ownership. The shared models will arrive around 2017.
今年，隨着XC90運動型多用途車(SUV)的推出，人們將首次見識李書福對沃爾沃品牌的影響。該款產品是沃爾沃被中國收購後開發的第一款車型。至於沃爾沃與吉利共同開發的車型，大約會在2017年推出。“If you start talking very early before the design is set, you can save 25 to 30 per cent on the cost of key components,” says Mr Samuelsson, who compares Volvo and Geely to Audi and Skoda, which share designs under Volkswagen Group ownership. “This is a way for us to create a very competitive car.”
薩穆埃爾鬆把沃爾沃與吉利之間的這種關係，與大衆汽車集團(Volkswagen Group)旗下奧迪(Audi)與斯柯達(Skoda)分享設計的情況相提並論。他說：“如果你在設計成型前很早就開展相關討論，你就能在關鍵部件上節省25%到30%的成本。對我們而言，這是設計出一款極具競爭力車型的好辦法。”In two years Volvo expects to increase the usage of Chinese parts to 75 per cent in some models, and will explore using China as a production base for Southeast Asia.
沃爾沃預計，它將在兩年內將某些車型的中國零配件使用率提升至75%，並將探索把中國作爲東南亞市場生產基地的可能性。
