路虎复兴传奇

    有些汽车制造商就如同汽车界的僵尸或是行尸走肉一般。他们的产品线萎缩、经销商低迷、前景黯然。这些制造商就如同那些永远也打不进季后赛的职业大联盟球队，虽然仍在销售汽车，但是整个汽车业界已经基本已经无视它们的存在。每个人都能列举出一些僵尸车厂，而三菱（Mitsubishi）、沃尔沃（Volvo）和来自意大利的蓝旗亚（Lancia）就已明显地正在步迈巴赫（Maybach）、悍马（Hummer）和帕卡德（Packard）的后尘。

    很长一段时间以来，路虎（Land Rover）似乎也在摆脱不了“僵尸车厂”的宿命。20世纪90年代和21世纪的头十年，路虎仅仅依靠着过时的制造工艺和效率低得可笑的工程技术——四个平台生产四种不同的车型——苟延残喘。那时，路虎汽车的品质就是个笑话。而路虎品牌也在不停地易主，从一开始的罗孚（Rover Group），到后来的宝马（BMW）和福特（Ford），每个车厂都试图复兴路虎品牌，但最终却发现无力回天，只能把这个品牌转手卖给更傻的接盘者。这些年来，路虎的转手率甚至超过了冷冻猪腩期货。

    2008年，随着福特将这家有着65年汽车制造历史的英国越野车品牌连同捷豹（Jaguar）一起打包出售给了印度塔塔集团（Tata ），路虎品牌似乎即将步入穷途末路。如今这个时代崇尚燃油经济性，同时排放标准也日益严苛，路虎公司旗下那些过时、笨重的油老虎越野车似乎根本就没有未来。新的竞争者，比如梅赛德斯-奔驰（Mercedes）、雷克萨斯（Lexus）甚至连保时捷（Porsche）都开始推出越野车型，蚕食着路虎的市场份额。即便是最死忠的路虎车迷也越来越无法忍受一次次地往返4S店修车。2007年，路虎在美国的销量达到最高的49,550辆，之后就一路下滑至2009年的26,306辆。

    虽然经历过如此种种的波折和磨难，路虎品牌还是顽强地存活下来并等来了转机。这家汽车制造商在固守着最核心的业务——生产终极越野机器——的同时，开始两头发力，一方面推出更为低端的车型，另一方面也开始重新打造售价超过六位数的高端车系。随着威廉王子、凯特王妃和热播剧《唐顿庄园》（Downton Abbey）带动的英伦风尚兴起，消费者逐渐开始注意到，路虎汽车又重新变得迷人了。

    2013年，美国市场上的汽车总销量上涨了8%，而路虎汽车的销量则激增15%。独家经营权是关键。美国很多地方，无论是在公路还是野外，人们都很难看到一辆路虎汽车。虽然路虎在11月的销量创下新高，但月销量也仅有区区的4,601辆，而福特只需要用不到两天的时间，就可以卖出同样数量的F系列皮卡。

    虽然总销量看起来不足挂齿，但路虎每一台车的利润却十分可观。在豪华SUV车型领域，降价销售的现象十分普遍，但路虎汽车的价格却十分坚挺。今年1月，随着全新一代路虎揽胜的上市，它的平均售价从93,451美元跃升到了101,436美元，而且一直将10万美元以上的售价维持到了今天。专业汽车网站Edmunds.com的杰西卡•卡德维尔说：“我一直在关注路虎揽胜的售价，我很惊讶它可以一直维持这样的高价。”

    另外，路虎品牌旗下车型也一直维持着热销的状态。卡德维尔指出路虎在11月份的库存周转率少于10天，而它竞争对手车型的库存周转率则接近2个月。卡德维尔对消费者表示了同情：“我可以想象，由于热销车型很难买到，路虎4S店里肯定会有不少失望的顾客。”

    They are like zombies, the walking dead of the auto world. Their product lines are decimated, their dealers disheartened, and heir prospects declining. They are still selling cars, but the whole enterprise has a ghastly pall about it -- like teams playing out the NFL schedule with no chance of making the playoffs. Everybody has their own list of zombie brands, but Mitsubishi, Volvo, and Italy's Lancia are clearly in danger of joining Maybach, Hummer, and Packard.

    For a long while, Land Rover seemed headed in the same direction. For most of the '90s and the 00's, it made do with manufacturing operations that were antique and engineering -- four different platforms for four different models -- that was laughably inefficient. Land Rover quality was a joke. A succession of owners, including Rover Group, BMW, and Ford(F, Fortune 500) had tried to revive it, but, finding themselves unable to, sold it off to the greater fool. Land Rover was traded more often than frozen pork belly futures.

    When Ford sold the 65-year-old British based maker of off-road vehicles to India's Tata along with Jaguar in 2008, the end seemed near. The existing product lines consisted of outmoded, overweight, gas hungry off-road vehicles that seemed to have little future in a world of product engineering dictated by fuel economy and emission standards. Newer competitors from Mercedes, Lexus, and even Porsche began to make inroads. Even dyed-in-the-wool Land Rover fans were losing patience with constant trips back to the dealership for repairs. U.S. sales, which had peaked in 2007 at 49,550 slid all the way to 26,306 in 2009.

    Through all those trials however, Land Rover has shown remarkable staying power and has managed to turn itself around. Without deviating from its original mission -- delivering the ultimate in off-road driving machines -- the automaker has expanded its product line at the low end and reengineered its high-end vehicles that sell for six figures. Customers have noticed, and Land Rovers have become cool again, along with Prince William, Kate Middleton, and the cast of Downton Abbey.

    In the U.S., Land Rover has boosted sales 15% this year in an industry that overall is up 8%. Exclusivity is key. There are still vast swaths of the country where you never see one on the road or off. When sales reached an all-time November high last month, they still amounted to only 4,601 units. Ford sells that many F-series trucks in little more than two days.

    But while its volume is scant, Land Rover makes every sale count. Discounts are rife among luxury SUVs, but Land Rover has been able to hold prices. With the introduction of the redesigned Range Rover in January, the average transaction price leapt from $93,451 to $101, 436, and it has remained above $100,000 ever since. "I've been watching for awhile now and am very surprised they've been able to keep their prices so high," says Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds.com.

    Moreover, the vehicles are selling almost as fast as they can be unloaded at dealerships. Edmunds figures that Land Rover's days-to-turn in November was less than 10 days vs. nearly two months for its competitors. Caldwell is sympathetic: "I imagine there are a lot of frustrated people in the Land Rover dealerships since these are hot sellers are not easy to get."