大众汽车的秘密武器

    消费者通过名字来辨识汽车，比如马里布（Malibu），科罗拉（Corolla），捷达（Jetta）和蒙迪欧（Fusion）。而工程师和财经分析人士则通过有时晦涩难懂的基础架构名称来认识汽车，比如Epsilon，MCM和PQ35。

    尽管后者可能听起来枯燥乏味，但对大众汽车（Volkswagen）里的许多人来说却是美妙的音符。这家汽车厂商生产了基于PQ35平台的汽车。大众汽车集团旗下拥有奥迪（Audi）、宾利（Bentley）和保时捷（Porsche）等多个品牌，在利润方面处于业内领先地位，并且正力求成为世界上销量最高的汽车厂商。这家总部位于德国沃尔夫斯堡的公司之所以大获成功，主要原因就在于PQ35平台及其同类平台。许多车型都是基于这些高效率的架构。

    数十年来，通用架构堪称各个汽车厂商的圣杯。研发新车型的费用可以达到数十亿美元。收回这笔投资的关键是，尽管出售的各种车型外观相差巨大有如豪华奥迪与入门级大众之分，但这些车型都使用统一的零部件，通过规模生产减少成本。

    这说起来容易，但做起来难，尤其是当汽车公司试图将汽车出售给世界各地的消费者时。10年前，通用汽车（General Motors）在世界范围内拥有几十种汽车平台，这导致了成本失控，成为该公司在2008年最终破产的原因之一。如今，通用汽车的Epsilon全球平台应用于在美国销售的雪佛兰马里布和别克君威（Regal），在欧洲销售的欧宝Insignia，在亚洲销售的大宇Altheon。同时，丰田汽车（Toyota）的MCM架构应用于凯美瑞（Camry）和普锐斯（Prius）车型，而MCC架构则应用于花冠（Corolla）。

    但在全球的高产汽车架构中，PQ35平台的年销量傲视群雄。大众汽车董事、负责研发的乌尔里奇•哈肯贝格博士堪称PQ35平台战略的昔日教父。这位61岁的工程师在大众汽车的职业生涯不仅漫长而且富有故事性，从该公司一些最富想象力的概念车以及基本的工程战略中都可看到他的身影。去年，大众汽车在全球范围内共售出840万辆汽车，其中大约有350万辆使用了PQ35平台，比如大众高尔夫（Golf）、奥迪A3、斯柯达明锐（Skoda Octavia）和西雅特Leon。

    现在，大众汽车正在准备PQ35的继任者。将于今年秋天在欧洲上市并可能在2014年登陆美国的大众新高尔夫就是基于一个名为MQB的新架构生产。MQB也将应用于较小的大众车型。“大众汽车凭借着PQ35平台，已经处于业内领先地位。”汽车市场调研公司IHS Automotive（总部位于密歇根州诺斯维尔）的首席分析师特蕾西•汉德勒说，“他们正在以这个平台为基础扩大业务。大众汽车拥有众多品牌，不会冒险进入销售潜力很小的市场领域。”

    Consumers know cars by names like Malibu, Corolla, Jetta and Fusion. Engineers and financial analysts, by contrast, think of cars by the sometimes less friendly designations given their underlying architectures: Epsilon, MCM and PQ35.

    As bland as the latter may sound, it has been music to many at Volkswagen, the auto maker that produces PQ35-based vehicles. The Volkswagen Group, which owns brands such as Audi, Bentley and Porsche, leads the industry in profitability and is aggressively striving to become the top car manufacturer in the world in terms of sales. A principal reason for the Wolfsburg, Germany-based firm's success is the PQ35 and its siblings, highly efficient architectures that underpin a broad range of car models.

    So-called common architectures have been a Holy Grail of sorts of car manufacturers for decades. Developing new vehicles can cost billions. The key to recouping such costs is selling a range of cars that -- while as drastically different to the eye as a posh Audi from an entry-level VW -- share many components and benefit from economies of scale.

    That is easier said than done, particularly as auto companies aim to sell vehicles to customers across the globe. General Motors (GM) a decade ago struggled with scores of vehicle platforms worldwide, a cause of uncontrollable costs and a contributing factor to its eventual bankruptcy in 2008. Today, GM's global Epsilon platform is sold in the U.S. as the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Regal, the Opel Insignia in Europe, and the Daewoo Altheon in Asia. Toyota's (TM) MCM architecture, meanwhile, is the basis of its Camry and Prius models, while its MCC is used for the Corolla.

    But among the world's high-volume automotive architectures, the PQ35 accounts for more annual sales than any other. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, a member of VW's board of management and responsible for research and development, is the erstwhile godfather of the PQ35 strategy. The 61-year-old engineer has a long, storied career with VW having had a hand in some of the company's most imaginative concept vehicles as well as bedrock engineering strategy. Last year, the PQ35 underpinned about 3.5 million of the 8.4 million cars sold worldwide. It was sold as the VW Golf, Audi A3, Skoda Octavia, and Seat Leon for instance.

    Now, the company is preparing the PQ35's successor. VW's new Golf, which goes on sale this fall in Europe and may appear in the U.S. by 2014, is based on the automaker's new architecture, named MQB. MQB also will be used to manufacture smaller VW models. "VW was already at the top of the pile with PQ35," said Tracy Handler, principal analyst for IHS Automotive in Northville, Michigan. "They're building on that expertise. VW has so many brands, and it doesn't go out on a limb chasing" market niches with too few potential sales."