当奥迪遇上沃尔沃：跨界车的跨国战争

    在登顶高端市场的征途中，奥迪屡败屡战，斗志不改。

    现在，已经跻身豪车制造商第一阵营的奥迪，与试图重返高端市场的小老弟沃尔沃狭路相逢。两家厂商注定将发生一场遭遇战：它们都将推出一款令人过目不忘的大型跨界车，目标群体均是购买力相当的富裕消费者。

    新款奥迪Q7是对当前热卖款的改良版，采用了即将被奥迪所有新款车型使用的全新设计语言。由于它更多地使用铝材代替钢材，新款奥迪Q7的结构更加轻巧。与旧版相比，新版Q7的重量要轻716磅，还拥有与老版大不相同的格栅。

    另一方面，瑞典汽车制造商沃尔沃对XC90车型进行了十年来的首次重新设计。自2010年起，沃尔沃就属于中国汽车制造企业浙江吉利控股集团。而在之前，该公司为福特汽车公司所有。

    自从被吉利收购以后，沃尔沃在美国的销量便持续走低，但在中国却积累起了人气。沃尔沃的管理层采用了非传统的战略，决定加强网络营销和销售攻势，减少参加车展的次数。XC90将于2015年1月初在北美国际汽车展粉墨登场，随后还将在3月和4月参加日内瓦和北京车展。

    两款汽车都将于2015年春于美国开售。相对来说，美国的沃尔沃经销商对新款车型更加渴望，因此这次开售对他们来说事关重大。而美国的奥迪经销商拥有大大小小的新款轿车和跨界车，生意已经红火了好一阵子。这两款跨界车都能搭载七名乘客。

    在做出减少参加车展次数的决定之前，沃尔沃于2014年11月在洛杉矶公布了XC90原型。Cars.com在一份评测中表示，XC90全部采用“高品质材料，看起来就像是奔驰S系轿车会采用的那种材料。它还拥有许多高科技配件，包括一块即便是放在概念车里也不显得突兀的大尺寸触屏——想想特斯拉Model S的触屏吧，就有那么大。”

    奥迪总部位于德国因戈尔施塔特，当前旗下多种车型以“努瓦拉里”设计吸引了大量关注。这种设计的特点是拥有极大的格栅，奥迪借此向20世纪50年代的意大利传奇赛车手塔基奥•努瓦拉里致敬。新版车型的时尚之处还体现在与众不同的仪表板上，它的设计看上去就像是一个梯形。

    大众和吉利这两家公司都打算在新兴市场制造他们的豪华跨界车。大众选定了墨西哥，而吉利则是以中国作为其制造基地。比起在欧洲生产这类汽车，该策略会让Q7和XC90在成本上拥有更强的竞争力。

    在2013年墨西哥普埃布拉工厂的奠基仪式上，奥迪首席执行官鲁珀特•施泰德表示：“到2020年，全球范围内每三辆奥迪车中，就有一辆是SUV。奥迪在墨西哥的新工厂将为这一计划做出重大贡献。”奥迪也在中国生产了小型的Q5运动型多功能汽车——你也可以叫它跨界车。

    沃尔沃精简车展亮相的次数是冒了很大风险的，因为车展是周边地区汽车经销商主要的营销活动。如果经销商意识到沃尔沃正试图绕开他们，这一战略可能激起他们的怒火，导致沃尔沃的利益受损。

    这场横跨德国、瑞典和中国的竞争将揭示哪种车型更受消费者青睐，哪种营销技巧更有效。硝烟已起，且让我们拭目以待。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    Audi has been the scrappy underdog fighting its way to the top of the premium market.

    With Audi having arrived as an elite luxury automaker, it faces Volvo as the new kid intent on forcing its way back into competition. The two automakers are positioned for a skirmish: Each is introducing an impressive, new large crossover aimed at roughly the same affluent buyers.

    The new Q7 from Audi is a revised version of its current popular crossover, featuring a new design language that will be evident on all new Audi models and a lighter structure due to expanded use of aluminum instead of steel. Q7 will weigh 716 pounds less than the model it replaces, with a distinctive grille that differs noticeably from its predecessor.

    Volvo, the Swedish automaker that has been owned since 2010 by Chinese automaking conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding Corp., has redesigned XC90 for the first time in a decade. Previously, Ford Motor Co. F -1.33% owned Volvo.

    Since Geely’s acquisition, Volvo sales have withered in the U.S. while the brand has gained popularity in China. Volvo executives, taking an unconventional strategy, have decided to beef up Internet marketing and sales while reducing the number of auto shows where the new model will be shown. XC90 will be on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in early January, in Geneva in March and in Beijing in April.

    Sales of both models will begin in the U.S. this spring. The stakes are quite high for U.S. Volvo dealers, who have been relatively starved for new products, while U.S. Audi dealers have enjoyed a prosperous run with a spate of new sedans and crossovers, large and small. Both of the big crossovers can carry seven passengers.

    Prior to its decision to limit auto show appearances, Volvo displayed an XC90 prototype at the Los Angeles show in November. In a review, Cars.com said the vehicle was full of “high-quality materials that would look right at home inside a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, combined with technology including a massive touch-screen that wouldn’t look out of place in a concept car—think Tesla-Model-S-touch-screen big.”

    Audi, based in Ingolstadt, Germany, gained attention for its current generation of cars with its “Nuvolari” design, featuring an exceptionally large grille, named for the legendary 1950s-era race car driver, TazioNuvolari. Its new styling theme also has a distinctive fascia, whose design resembles a trapezoid.

    Both companies, Volkswagen and Geely, have plans to manufacture their luxury crossovers in emerging markets, VW in Mexico and Geely in China. The strategy will make Q7 and XC90 more cost competitive than they had been as European-built vehicles.

    “Worldwide, every third Audi will be an SUV by 2020,” Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said in 2013 during a groundbreaking ceremony at the plant near Puebla, Mexico. “The new Audi plant in Mexico will make a major contribution to that.” Audi builds its smaller Q5 SUV—or crossover, if you like—in China as well.

    Volvo is taking a big chance by de-emphasizing auto shows, since they are major marketing events for dealers from the surrounding area. If dealers get the idea that Volvo is trying to sidestep them, the tactic could arise their ire to the automaker’s detriment.

    The German/Swedish/Chinese dustup should be lively and worth watching, in terms of proving which models consumers prefer and which marketing techniques prove more effective.