豪车打响酷越车市场争夺战

    现在，超豪华汽车品牌已不再矜持地与酷越车或CUV保持距离了。宾利（Bentley）和劳斯莱斯（Rolls Royce）这样仅供极少数人享用的高端保守品牌也开始开发运动型多功能车了。

    捷豹（Jaguar）也不例外。在上周举办的法兰克福车展上，它推出了自己的C-X17概念车。

    下一个会是谁呢？法拉利（Ferrari）吗？迄今为止法拉利方面还没有正式表态。不过我敢打赌，这家意大利超跑和F1的生产商正在紧锣密鼓地悄悄设计这种车型。

    这些品牌肯这样放低身段的原因很简单：要过日子。研发节油型引擎、电子设备和碳纤维这样的先进材料往往要耗费巨资，光靠超跑市场难以获得足够收入来提供支撑。

    豪华车厂商一度对SUV及其轻量化的兄弟CUV极其不屑。但后来凯迪拉克（Cadillac）推出了凯雷德（Escalade），林肯（Lincoln）推出了领航者（Navigator），或许最重要的是，保时捷（Porsche）2002年推出了卡宴（Cayenne）。这样一来，从保时捷在德国的老家祖文豪森到加州的卵石滩以及其他众多地方，一心捍卫保时捷纯正血统的拥趸们无不捶胸顿足、痛心不已。

    为此保时捷的高层只能耐心向车迷解释，为了打造全新的911超跑，公司需要卡宴为新车带来更多的客户。2011年，保时捷最新跑车991的确与大家见面了。

    汽车网站Edmunds.com资深分析师米歇尔•克瑞布说：“我向纯正保时捷车迷们指出过，如果不是因为卡宴的功劳，保时捷这个品牌今天可能早就不复存在了。各种酷越车现在很受追捧，也是美国、中国和欧洲增长最快的细分市场。”

    汽车网站Kbb.com的卡尔•布劳尔则说：“捷豹从来就没推出过酷越车。因此，尽管过去十五年间这个市场不断扩大，它的豪车对手们也纷纷大赚其钱，但它却大为退步了。现在依靠母公司塔塔（Tata）的财务支持，捷豹算是有了靠山，可以运用高科技生产流程开发全新的轻量化平台了。”

    拥有保时捷及其他11个品牌的大众汽车公司（Volkswagen）一直引领着业界潮流，它就让自己的设计师为兰博基尼（Lamborghini）和宾利（Bentley）这样的品牌构思适合的热门车型，其中就包括了酷越车。

    去年的日内瓦车展上，宾利就推出了EXP9概念车。这辆车装有23英寸的超大轮胎，以及犹如喷气式战机进气口一样的巨大进气孔。而据公开报道称，兰博基尼的CUV也正在最后完善中。凭借庞大的品牌群，大众可以分摊制造成本，同时让各车型共用引擎，使售价20万美元的小众车型也能顺利面世。

    今年11月，宝马（BMW）将推出充满技术含量的全新X5酷越车，还给它起了个绰号叫“老板”。这辆车的目标是要超越梅赛德斯奔驰（Mercedes-Benz）M级酷越车的销量。宝马这款车的售价为53,000美元，载有夜视系统，以及低速拥堵情况下基本实现自动驾驶的系统。

    酷越车，或称CUV的得名原因是它们是基于轿车平台打造的，而不像SUV那样是基于卡车平台打造的。后者有一些车型目前仍有部分市场，其中比较著名的就有凯迪拉克的凯雷德。这款大型豪华车的最新版基于通用汽车（General Motors）最新的卡车平台制造，将于十月份的纽约车展上首展。

    现在的汽车市场上，一方面是轿车日益变得轻便、省油又便宜，一方面却是CUV大量涌现。而这些车的主要使命就是给那些富裕人群提供一种高端大气的交通工具，方便他们把孩子、爱犬和马鞍运到度假胜地。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    No longer is the world of ultra-luxury cars off limits to crossovers or CUVs. Bentley and Rolls Royce, the ultimate names in stuffy high-end transportation for one-percenters, are working on variations of the sport utility vehicle.

    Jaguar is too. It showed its C-X17 concept last week at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

    Who's next? Ferrari? No official word from Maranello. I'd bet my last nickel, however, that the maker of Italian exotics, supercars, and F1 racers is busily and quietly working on a design.

    The reason is simple: Economics. The market for sports coupes simply doesn't generate enough revenue to support the eye-wateringly high cost of research and development for advanced fuel-efficient engines, electronic gadgetry, and cutting-edge materials such as carbon fiber.

    Makers of luxury cars once viewed the SUV and its lighter-weight heir, the CUV, with disdain. But Cadillac gave birth to the Escalade, Lincoln (F) hatched the Navigator and, perhaps most importantly, Porsche in 2002 introduced the Cayenne. The anguished wails of Porsche purists could be heard from the brand's home in Zuffenhausen, Germany to Pebble Beach, California and beyond.

    To create a new 911 sports car, Porsche executives explained patiently, the company needed the customers that Cayenne would bring to its showrooms. In 2011, Porsche introduced the latest series of its sports car, the 991.

    "I point out to Porsche purists that the brand might not exist today if it wasn't for Cayenne," says Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Edmunds.com, the automotive website. "CUVs of all sorts are popular and represent the fastest-growing segment in the U.S., China, and Europe."

    Karl Brauer of Kbb.com says, "Jaguar has never offered a CUV, which has held the brand back even as the segment expanded and competing luxury brands cashed in over the past 15 years. Now, with the financial support of parent company Tata, Jaguar has the backing to develop new, lightweight platforms utilizing high-tech manufacturing processes."

    Volkswagen, which owns Porsche and 11 other car brands, has been a trendsetter, pushing its designers to imagine up-to-the-moment versions for brands such as Lamborghini and Bentley, including crossovers.

    Last year, Bentley showed its EXP9 concept in Geneva, complete with 23-inch wheels and enormous air intakes reminiscent of a jet fighter. A Lambo CUV was scrubbed at the last moment, according to published reports. VW, by dint of its large number of brands, can share engineering costs and engines, bringing even a small-volume $200,000 car into the realm of feasibility.

    BMW this November is introducing a new, technology-packed version of its X5 crossover that it nicknames "the boss." The idea is to surpass sales of Mercedes-Benz's M-Class crossovers. Selling for $53,000, the new X5 version will feature night vision and a system that will allow the car largely to drive itself in heavy, low-speed traffic.

    Crossovers or CUVs got their names because they are built on car architectures, as opposed to SUVs, which were based on trucks. A few of the latter are still capturing a slice of the market, notably Cadillac's Escalade. The newest version of the big luxury vehicle, based on General Motors' (GM) newest truck platform, will debut in New York in October.

    At one end of the automotive world, cars are getting lighter, more fuel efficient, and less expensive. At the other end are the CUVs, for the affluent who still need a suitably elegant means of transporting kids, dogs, and saddles to the summer place.