宇通客車 中企海外擴(kuò)張的成功者

Founded as a bus repair factory in central Henanprovince in the 1960s, the Zhengzhou Yutong BusCompany has been driven by China’s growth tobecome the largest bus manufacturer in the world,accounting for 10 per cent of total global sales.

鄭州宇通客車(Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Company)在中國經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的推動(dòng)下成為全球最大的客車制造商，銷量占到全球的10%。這家創(chuàng)辦于上世紀(jì)60年代的公司最初是一家客車修理廠，總部在河南省中部的鄭州。

However, the engine that drove the company’sascension — China’s prosperity — is now beginning to splutter.

然而，中國經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮這個(gè)推動(dòng)該公司崛起的引擎現(xiàn)在開始嘎嘎作響。

As China accelerated out of a planned economy, Yutong hitched a ride by helping to ferryworkers back and forth between their hinterland homes and jobs in the booming coastalregions. More than 67,000 of its buses hit the road last year.

宇通客車為來往于內(nèi)陸家鄉(xiāng)和蓬勃發(fā)展的沿海地區(qū)的工人提供運(yùn)輸服務(wù)，搭上了中國加速擺脫計(jì)劃經(jīng)濟(jì)的便車。該公司去年銷售了逾6.7萬輛客車。

Now, the home market responsible for Yutong’s rise is shrinking. As growth dips and wages rise,the flow of Chinese workers across the country — the largest known migration in humanhistory — is slowing. China’s “floating population”, the county’s official count of migrantworkers, last year fell for the first time since the global financial crisis, according togovernment statistics.

如今，幫助宇通崛起的國內(nèi)市場正在萎縮。隨著經(jīng)濟(jì)增長減速和工資上漲，中國國內(nèi)的勞動(dòng)力流動(dòng)(這是人類歷史上已知的規(guī)模最大的遷徙)正在放緩。政府統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中國的“流動(dòng)人口”去年出現(xiàn)自全球金融危機(jī)以來的首次下降——“流動(dòng)人口”是中國對(duì)在非戶籍地務(wù)工人員的官方稱呼。

Chinese bus sales dropped in tandem from 604,000 to 598,000 between 2014 and 2015,according to Wind Information. Like many other Chinese companies reliant on domesticmarkets for profits, Yutong has taken this as a signal to ramp up efforts abroad.

與此相對(duì)應(yīng)，萬得資訊(Wind Information)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，從2014年到2015年，中國客車銷量從60.4萬輛下降至59.8萬輛。與其他許多利潤依賴國內(nèi)市場的中國公司一樣，宇通將這視為更大力拓展海外市場的信號(hào)。

The company’s overseas ventures have thus far focused on the developing world, but now, inline with Beijing’s desire for an innovative and internationally competitive auto industry,Yutong is pouring investment into new technologies such as fuel-replacement and autonomousdriving.

宇通海外子公司迄今一直致力于在發(fā)展中世界開拓市場，但如今為了響應(yīng)政府關(guān)于發(fā)展創(chuàng)新和具有國際競爭力的汽車工業(yè)的號(hào)召，宇通大舉投資于燃料替代和自動(dòng)駕駛等新技術(shù)。

From his office on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, Hu Fengju, head of Yutong’s international armdetails the company’s two-pronged approach to international expansion.

宇通海外市場部部長胡鋒舉在其位于鄭州郊區(qū)的辦公室里詳述了該公司雙管齊下的國際擴(kuò)張模式。

Burgeoning markets in developing countries are the long-haul plan, he says, as they provide astark contrast to China’s increasing saturation.

他說，瞄準(zhǔn)發(fā)展中國家迅猛發(fā)展的市場是長遠(yuǎn)計(jì)劃，它們與中國市場的日益飽和形成了鮮明對(duì)比。

“[Buses] are interrelated with a place’s economic and human mobility levels,” says Mr Hu. “Our long-term focus is on developing countries. European markets are more mature but alsohave short-term growth potential.”

胡鋒舉表示：“(客車)與一個(gè)地方的經(jīng)濟(jì)和人員流動(dòng)水平相關(guān)。我們的長期焦點(diǎn)是在發(fā)展中國家。歐洲市場更為成熟，但也有短期增長潛力。”

Chinese automakers face obstacles to entry, however, mostly in the form of local protectionism— much like western companies have faced since China began its partial opening of markets inthe 1980s.

然而，中國汽車制造商面臨主要以地方保護(hù)主義形式存在的準(zhǔn)入障礙，這與西方公司自上世紀(jì)80年代中國部分開放市場以來所面臨的障礙頗為相似。

But Yutong believes it is up to the challenge, and has plans to expand its sales operationsbeyond the 130 countries where it currently operates. It also manufactures buses in Venezuelaand Cuba — in a move to overcome import restrictions — and has sold more than 6,000vehicles in each of those two countries.

但宇通認(rèn)為它已準(zhǔn)備好迎接挑戰(zhàn)，并計(jì)劃將銷售業(yè)務(wù)擴(kuò)張至目前運(yùn)營的130個(gè)國家以外的地區(qū)。它還在委內(nèi)瑞拉和古巴制造客車，此舉旨在克服進(jìn)口限制，并在這兩個(gè)國家分別銷售了6000多輛車。

While developing markets offer long-term potential, mature markets such as Europe andNorth America provide immediate opportunities if Yutong can prove it is on par — or ahead —of its competition in technical prowess.

發(fā)展中市場具備長期潛力，但如果宇通能夠證明自己在技術(shù)實(shí)力上與競爭對(duì)手相當(dāng)甚至領(lǐng)先，歐洲和北美等成熟市場當(dāng)下也有機(jī)會(huì)。

In August last year, a Yutong bus drove itself 32km from Zhengzhou to the neighbouring city ofKaifeng, stopping at traffic lights and overtaking as it went, in what Yutong claimed was thefirst real-world test of a driverless bus.

去年8月，宇通的一輛自動(dòng)駕駛客車從鄭州行駛了32公里抵達(dá)鄰近的開封市，遇到紅燈就停車，行駛途中還會(huì)超車。宇通宣稱，這是現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中的首例無人駕駛客車測試。

Li Feiqiang, deputy director of Yutong’s technology research centre, played down theimmediate future of such technologies, saying that the primary purpose was to improvesafety in regular buses.

宇通技術(shù)研究中心副主任李飛強(qiáng)淡化了此類技術(shù)在不久的將來就會(huì)成熟的可能性，他表示，主要目的還是提高普通客車的安全性。

It is in fuel replacement technologies that Yutong hopes to be most competitive, he says. “The safety, reliability and endurance of Yutong’s new energy vehicles is already at the samelevel as petrol-fuelled buses.”

他表示，宇通希望的是在燃料替代技術(shù)方面具備最強(qiáng)的競爭力。“宇通新能源汽車的安全性、可靠性和耐久性已達(dá)到與以汽油為燃料的客車同等的水平。”

Thanks to an extensive government plan to support the sector, sales of electric buses havesoared in China, with more than 92,000 electric buses registered as road-ready in 2015 — 15times the number in the previous year. Yutong accounted for 20,000 of these, almost threetimes the sales from the previous year.

受政府一項(xiàng)行業(yè)支持計(jì)劃的推動(dòng)，中國電動(dòng)客車銷量大幅上升。2015年中國電動(dòng)客車的上牌量超過9.2萬輛，是前一年的15倍。其中宇通電動(dòng)客車占到2萬輛，幾乎是前一年銷量的3倍。

Local government subsidies drove this sales growth, but an investigation into fraudulent claimscould cut local spending on upgrades of public transport in the short term, which may eat intoYutong’s sales of electric vehicles, according to Zhi Aik Yeo, an analyst at Jefferies.

杰佛瑞(Jefferies)分析師Zhi Aik Yeo表示，地方政府補(bǔ)貼推動(dòng)了電動(dòng)客車銷量的增長，但一項(xiàng)新能源騙補(bǔ)調(diào)查可能會(huì)在短期內(nèi)導(dǎo)致地方政府削減在公共交通升級(jí)方面的支出，這可能會(huì)影響宇通的電動(dòng)客車銷量。

At the same time as home growth is likely to slow, 2015 also saw Yutong take its electronictechnology for its first foray abroad, running a trial operation on the streets of Paris in a bid fora contract to replace 9,200 cities buses with electric models.

與此同時(shí)，隨著國內(nèi)增長可能放緩，宇通也在2015年首次將其電動(dòng)技術(shù)帶到國外，在巴黎街道進(jìn)行了試運(yùn)營，以爭取一項(xiàng)將9200輛城市客車更換為電動(dòng)客車的合約。

Yutong will face stiff competition in its internationalisation of electric buses, but notnecessarily from non-Chinese rivals.

宇通要將其電動(dòng)客車推向國際市場將面臨激烈競爭，但競爭不一定都來自中國以外的對(duì)手。

BYD, the Chinese carmaker that recently put five electric buses into circulation in London, isbetter placed to sell such vehicles to international markets, says Zhong Shi, a Beijing-basedauto analyst.

中國汽車制造商比亞迪(BYD)的5輛電動(dòng)客車最近在倫敦上路通行。駐北京的汽車分析師鐘石表示，在向國際市場銷售電動(dòng)客車方面，比亞迪更有優(yōu)勢。

“However, if Yutong decides that [electric] are important for its international development andinvests more, they are likely to overtake BYD due to their more comprehensive bus-makingcapabilities,” he adds.

他補(bǔ)充稱：“然而，如果宇通認(rèn)為(電動(dòng)客車)對(duì)其國際發(fā)展很重要并加大投資的話，那么他們可能會(huì)超越比亞迪，因?yàn)樗麄儞碛懈娴目蛙嚿a(chǎn)能力。”

As with all large state-owned company, Yutong’s push abroad began — and is maintained — bya government drive to create national champions that “go out” and become internationallycompetitive.

與所有大型國企一樣，宇通進(jìn)軍海外是源于政府一項(xiàng)旨在打造“走出去”并具備國際競爭力的國家冠軍企業(yè)的計(jì)劃——并從中得到支持。

As China’s top leaders met at a high-profile yearly meeting in Beijing, CCTV, China’s officialstate-run television group, chose to feature Yutong’s Cuba operations as an example of “ChineseBrands in Overseas Markets” in a glowing report that praised its efforts.

中國國家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人在北京參加備受關(guān)注的全國人大會(huì)議期間，國家電視臺(tái)央視(CCTV)特意對(duì)宇通在古巴的業(yè)務(wù)作了專題報(bào)道，作為“中國品牌在海外”的一個(gè)例子，盛贊宇通為開拓海外市場所付出的努力。

This favoured position helped Yutong to push up net profits 35.5 per cent year-on-year toRmb3.6bn in 2015 despite the overall slip in Chinese bus sales — a trend-bucking result thatthe company says it will repeat in 2016 and 2017.

在這種支持下，盡管2015年中國整體客車銷量下滑，宇通凈利潤同比增長35.5%，至36億元人民幣。該公司表示，這種逆勢表現(xiàn)將在2016年和2017年延續(xù)。