拯救捷豹路虎：汽车品牌最成功的跨国收购

    2008年，当捷豹和路虎被转让给印度塔塔集团时，这两大品牌的前景还非常不明朗。彼时，全球经济危机刚刚爆发，还没有明确的迹象表明豪华车型的销量何时才能再度恢复增长。

    现在看来，当时的担心完全是不必要的。路虎和捷豹都是典型的英国汽车品牌，被福特卖给塔塔后，它们的全球销量在2013年达到425,000台，2014年更是达到了创纪录的462,678台，今年甚至有望突破50万台。去年塔塔集团又开设了它在全球的第五家制造厂。这家雄心勃勃的公司希望，到2020年，捷豹和路虎的销量能够达到75万台，最终冲破百万大关。

    为了实现这个愿景，塔塔在2015底特律车展上宣布了两项计划：一是为旗下大多数车型推出柴油版，二是推出捷豹的首款跨界车型F-Pace。

    对于捷豹和路虎的车型来说，柴油发动机似乎是个理想的选择，因为柴油版的燃油经济性要优于汽油引擎，随着全球各国对能耗标准卡得越来越严，此举是非常必要的。近几年，柴油引擎在豪车阵营的形象已有所好转，因为最新的柴油发动机基本上避免了烟雾、气味和噪声等短板，同时还能提供非常理想的加速能力。所有的豪车品牌都开始提供柴油版，捷豹和路虎肯定也不愿落于人后。

    捷豹路虎全球运营总监安迪•高斯在底特律表示，捷豹路虎“必须挑战奥迪、宝马和奔驰建立的现有秩序。我们正在为人们建立明显的差异化选择，吸引他们购买捷豹而不是哪个德系品牌。这几个德系品牌通常只把对方当作竞争对手，并不太重视其他品牌。”

    目前可以看出，塔塔允许捷豹和路虎保留了它们的英式风格，同时提供大量资本来革新两大品牌的车型组合。另外，塔塔还进行了柴油发动机等技术投资，并在市场营销方面不惜血本。对于任何一个对历史有一点了解的人，这一幕恐怕都不乏一丝讽刺感，因为印度直到1947年之前还是英国的殖民地，很多英国贵族一度开着他们的捷豹和路虎疾驰在印度的大小公路上，现在却要靠印度来拯救这两个历史悠久的英国品牌。

    作为捷豹的首款“性能跨界车型”，铝合金车身的F-Pace预计将于2016年正式亮相。该车的上市应该会令美国的捷豹路虎经销商感到兴奋，因为去年捷豹路虎在美销量下跌了7%，只卖出15,773台。目前在全球范围内，跨界车都是最受市场欢迎的车型，在豪车板块也一样受到追捧。

    捷豹和路虎的最新柴油车型登陆美国的时机则有些尴尬，因为美国的汽油油价正在暴跌，相比之下，柴油车型的燃油成本反而显得不划算。不过能源价格总有办法迷惑消费者，就在他们以为自己已经了解价格走势以及怎样适应后，它说不定又会杀你个回马枪。

    在投资建设这两个英国豪车品牌的同时，塔塔无疑也在不断观察和学习。不知还要多久，塔塔就会利用这种知识打造具有其民族特征的自有品牌，最终跻身全球汽车厂商的“第一梯队”？（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    审校：任文科

    The prospects for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands under the ownership of Tata Motors of India looked weirdly uncertain in 2008, as the global financial crisis unfolded with no clear indicator whether and how soon sales of luxury cars would again grow.

    Any undue fretting turns out to have been misplaced. The two quintessentially British automakers, sold to Tata by Ford Motor F 0.40% , delivered a record 462,678 vehicles globally in 2014, up from 425,000 a year earlier, with a forecast to break half a million this year. The automaker opened a manufacturing plant last year, its fifth worldwide, with ambitions to reach 750,000 units sold annually by the end of the decade and a million eventually.

    Tata’s vision could be helped by two initiatives announced earlier this month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit: diesel engine availability for most models and Jaguar’s first crossover, F-Pace.

    Diesel engines seem ideal for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles because they’re more fuel-efficient than gasoline engines, a key consideration as automakers strive to meet more stringent efficiency rules worldwide. Diesel’s image among luxury buyers has improved in recent years because the latest versions of the engine are virtually free of smoke, odor and clatter, while providing particularly rapid acceleration from a dead stop. All of the luxury brands have been offering diesel, so why not Jaguar Land Rover?

    Andy Goss, worldwide head of sales, said in Detroit this month the brands “have to challenge the established order the way Audi had to do with BMW and Mercedes not so long ago. We are creating clear differentiation for people to buy Jaguar over one of the German brands. The Germans tend to look at each other rather than anyone else.”

    What seems clear is that Tata has allowed Jaguar and Land Rover to maintain their British identity while providing prodigious capital to renew their model lineups, invest in new technology such as diesel engines and market aggressively to luxury shoppers. For anyone with a feel for history, the arrangement has an ironic aspect since India was a colony of Great Britain until it gained its independence in 1947. More than a few British aristocrats plied Indian roads in their Jaguars and Land Rovers.

    In early 2016, Jaguar’s first “performance crossover” – the aluminum-bodied F-Pace – is scheduled to debut. The event should bring cheer to the hearts of U.S. franchise dealers especially, since U.S. sales fell 7% to 15,773 units last year. Crossovers are the hottest vehicle segment worldwide and have proliferated among the luxury brands as well.

    Jaguar and Land Rover’s new diesels may have arrived at an odd moment in the U.S. since the price of gasoline has been plummeting while diesel fuel is becoming relatively more expensive. But energy prices have a way of confounding consumers just when they think they’ve figured out which way prices are moving and how to adjust.

    Tata Motors no doubt has been watching and learning as it invests in its estimable British brands. How long before Tata uses that knowledge to advance under its own name and ethnic identity to the front ranks of global automakers?