歐洲車企新年面臨老問題

????標致正與歐寶合并？

????法國《世界報》（Le Monde）上刊登了一篇文章，被“汽車真相”網站（The Truth About Cars）譯為英語進行轉載。文章稱，法國政府正推動標致走得更遠，要從通用汽車手中直接收購歐寶。鑒于歐寶的業績及通用欲擺脫這一財務負擔的現狀，PSA有可能一文不花就能買下它。但PSA可能要為歐寶注入50億美元或更多錢才能讓它恢復生機。在《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal）近期對丹?埃克森做的一則專訪中，他對歐洲分公司并未給予明確支持。問及“擁有歐寶還是通用的目標嗎？是不是有傳言稱要出售歐寶？”他的回答很簡單：“不，沒這種說法。”然后就此打住。

????雷諾日子也不好過

????PSA并不是法國經濟悲劇的唯一主角。雷諾公司（Renault）希望其法國所有工廠的工人周工作時間增加6.5%，達到35個小時，這樣每年就能省下8,500萬美元。首席運營官卡洛斯?塔瓦雷斯直言，歐洲的汽車工廠太多了，英國和西班牙的車廠比雷諾在法國的車廠競爭力更強。這種表態當然會讓他在強勢的法國工會那里不怎么受歡迎。

????俄羅斯也面臨窘境

????上周，歐洲市場版圖上為數不多的亮點之一也變得稍許黯淡下來，并可能也會遭遇產能過剩之患。本來，俄羅斯已成為歐洲僅次于德國的第二大汽車市場。但據專業汽車新聞刊物《汽車新聞》（Automotive News）稱，一些行業觀察家確信，隨著銷售趨于平穩，這個市場可能也會陷入停滯。文章引述一位知名商人稱，他認為“未來數月”經濟不會出現任何增長跡象。但是，各大汽車廠商仍在繼續擴大產能。大眾汽車（Volkswagen）正在興建一座新的發動機工廠，福特汽車正建造第四座組裝廠，而俄羅斯最大車企伏爾加【AUTOVAZ，以其商標拉達（Lada）而知名】與雷諾-日產（Renault-Nissan）合建的工廠將把年產能提升到35萬輛。

????大眾汽車開足馬力

????畢馬威（KPMG）開展的一項針對汽車業高管所做的調查顯示，大眾汽車被認為是未來五年內最有可能奪取世界市場霸主地位的廠商。2012年12月，大眾宣布，截至11月底，其銷量已超過2011年全年，總銷量為829萬輛。這一佳績意味著它拿下了西歐市場24.9%的份額，在前一年23.3%的基礎上有所增長，足以擋住菲亞特（Fiat）的攻勢。菲亞特總裁馬爾喬內表示，大眾靠野蠻定價正在開展“大屠殺”，并希望借此徹底清洗實力不足的對手。

????慕尼黑上演寶馬傳奇

????2012年，寶馬集團（BMW Group）的銷量達到了創紀錄的185萬輛，比一年前增長了11%，因此，此時該公司正打開香檳大肆慶祝。同時，寶馬預計2013年銷量將再次創紀錄。去年，豪華車買主讓寶馬超越奧迪（Audi）和奔馳（Mercedes），登上了全球最暢銷高端品牌的寶座。但真正立下大功的是小型寶馬車：寶馬1系的銷量增長了29%，3系的銷量占寶馬總銷量的四分之一還多。

????A Peugeot-Opel merger in the works?

????A story that in appeared Le Monde and was reported in English by The Truth About Cars website, says the French government was pushing Peugeot to go further and buy Opel from GM. Given Opel's performance and GM's desire to rid itself of the financial liability, PSA could probably buy it for nothing. But it might find itself sinking $5 billion or more into Opel to make it viable. Dan Akerson gave his European unit a less-than-ringing endorsement in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. When asked "Is it still GM's goal to own Opel? Are there talks of selling it?" he replied tersely, "No, there are no talks." End of.

????Renault is hurting too

????PSA isn't alone in its Franco-misery. Renault wants workers at all its French plants to boost their workweek 6.5% to 35 hours, so it can save $85 million a year. Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares has been outspoken in his belief that there are too many car plants in Europe and that factories in England and Spain are more competitive than Renault's in France. That won't make him very popular with France's robust labor unions.

????Even Russia's got the blues

????One of the few bright spots in the European picture turned a bit darker this week and may be about to suffer from the same disease of overcapacity. Russia has grown to become the continent's second-largest car market after Germany. But according to Automotive News, some industry watchers believe it might be stagnating as sales level off. A prominent businessman was quoted as saying he did not expect to see any growth in the economy "in the coming months." Still, automakers continue to expand there. Volkswagen is building a new engine plant, Ford is adding a fourth assembly plant, and AutoVaz (otherwise known by its trade name of Lada) is gearing up to produce 350,000 vehicles a year at a factory in partnership with Renault-Nissan.

????But in Wolfsburg, VW rolls on

????A survey of top automotive executives surveyed by KPMG picked VW as the automaker most likely to gain global market share over the next five years. Volkswagen announced in December that by the end of November it had beaten its sales for all of 2011, with a total of 8.29 million vehicles sold. It has even been strong enough to fend off attacks by Fiat by commanding 24.9% of the Western European auto market, up from 23.3% a year ago. Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne has said that VW is creating a "bloodbath" with its savage pricing and wants to drive its weaker competitors out of business.

????Meanwhile in Munich...

????The BMW Group is popping bottles of sekt sparkling wine after selling a record 1.85 million vehicles in 2012, up 11% from a year ago, and it is forecasting another record year in 2013. Luxury car customers made BMW the best-selling premium brand worldwide over Audi and Mercedes last year, but it was the smaller Bimmers that made the difference: Sales of the 1- series rose 29%, while 3-series sales represented more than a quarter of total BMW volume.