新车下线在即，沃尔沃却不强调其“美国血统”

今年晚些时候，沃尔沃在美国国内生产的第一批轿车就将上市了。但可以预见的是，沃尔沃并不会将“国产化”作为吸引美国消费者的卖点。

2010年，沃尔沃被中国的吉利汽车集团收购。近年来，沃尔沃斥资11亿美元，在美国南卡罗莱纳州查尔斯顿市西北35英里处的里奇维尔建设了一座工厂，并在这里启动了S60中型家轿的生产线。

不过沃尔沃美国分公司的总裁兼CEO安德斯·古斯塔夫松日前向《财富》杂志表示：等到11月S60在美国上市时，公司并不会特意强调它的“美国制造”血统。他表示，当下特朗普政府正在努力改善北美地区的贸易关系，鉴于政治气候比较敏感，“我们不会特地强调汽车的产地。”

此次，沃尔沃打算重点宣传这款车型的安全性、舒适性和奢华性——它是当前汽车市场上唯一一款安装了按摩座椅的车型。沃尔沃的发言人吉姆·尼科尔斯表示：“沃尔沃就是沃尔沃，不管它是在哪里制造的。”

虽说特朗普政府致力于改革北美自由贸易协定，以将更多产业和就业机会留在美国，但汽车公司往往严重依赖复杂的跨国供应链，因此特别容易受到政策变化的影响。比如特朗普政府最近倡议，在墨西哥和加拿大生产的汽车，其使用的零部件应有不低于75%来自北美地区，较目前北美自由贸易协定规定的62.5%有较大幅度上升。特朗普政府还建议对从加拿大和墨西哥进口的免税汽车施加数量限额，并要求至少有一定比例的汽车零部件厂商发给工人的时薪不应少于16美元。

特朗普政府提议的这些改革，将使汽车厂商面临两难处境：如果将汽车产地转移到美国，则必然面临成本上涨的问题，从而侵蚀企业利润；而将工厂放在加拿大和墨西哥，再将成车向美国出口，则会受关税影响，使其无法与在美国生产的车型竞争。

特朗普政府之所以要让汽车厂商产生这种恐慌，就是为了刺激欧洲和亚洲的车企在北美地区设立工厂。虽然在最近10年左右的时间里，包括宝马、奔驰和日产在内的多家车企纷纷在美国东南部设立了工厂，但最近也有十几家车企在墨西哥设立了工厂，以削减劳动力和生产成本。

第三代沃尔沃S60轿车的起售价为3.58万美元，预计将与宝马3系、奥迪A4、奔驰C级、英菲尼迪Q50和雷克萨斯IS等车型展开竞争。

南卡罗莱纳工厂生产的半数汽车将出口至欧洲、中国和南美等地。沃尔沃还计划进一步扩大该工厂的生产规模，从2019年开始生产V60旅行车，从2021年开始生产XC90全尺寸SUV。

沃尔沃的这家工厂离宝马的全球最大工厂——斯帕坦堡工厂不远。不过在南卡罗莱纳州设厂，并非就是万事大吉了。中国是沃尔沃的最大单一市场。特朗普政府建议对中国出口产品加征25%的关税，这必然会导致中国对美国出口汽车加征报复性关税。

密歇根大学罗斯商学院的商业经济与公共政策学教授凯尔·汉德里认为：“早在特朗普发动贸易战之前很久，沃尔沃就开始规划和建设这个工厂了，所以该工厂的新车下线并不能说明沃尔沃对贸易战的乐观或悲观态度。如果说贸易战对它有什么影响的话，那影响肯定是在当前或未来的生产规模上。”

沃尔沃从三年前开始翻新自己的产品线，目前该品牌呈现出快速增长之势。今年前九个月，沃尔沃在美国市场的销量增长了30%。

沃尔沃最新推出的“Care by Volvo”购车服务也受到了车主的欢迎。消费者只需缴纳一笔固定的月租费（包含保险和保养费用），12个月后便可获得车辆的所有权。目前这种全新的“以租代购”模式仅支持紧凑型的XC40车型。该模式推出后仅四个月便达到了全年的销量目标。沃尔沃表示，“Care by Volvo”服务的很多客户都是沃尔沃的新客户。

古斯塔夫松表示，S60轿车上市后暂时不支持这种“以租代购”模式。不过沃尔沃计划给这款车型添加足够的豪华配置，以免它被租车公司盯上。毕竟一款车型如果成为租车公司的常用车型，就一定会对它的声誉和转售价值产生影响。“我们已经制定了一个战略，让它绝对不会成为一款用来租的车。”（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

When Volvo’s first American-made car reaches dealerships later this year, the Swedish automaker won’t flaunt the homegrown angle to U.S. consumers.

Owned by Chinese auto conglomerate Geely since 2010, Volvo Cars is gearing up to build its revamped S60 midsize sedan at its new U.S. factory, a $1.1 billion plant in Ridgeville, S.C., 35 miles northwest of Charleston.

But Anders Gustafsson, president and CEO of Volvo Car USA, told Fortune that the car’s marketing message won’t emphasize its Made-in-America credentials when it arrives in showrooms in November. “We will take away focus on where the cars are built,” he said, citing a sensitive political climate amid the Trump administration’s efforts to revamp North American trade relations.

Instead, the company plans to highlight the sedan’s safety, comfort, and status as the only car in its segment to include massaging seats. “A Volvo is a Volvo no matter where it is built,” said spokesman Jim Nichols.

As President Donald Trump seeks to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement and bring jobs and industry to the U.S., automotive companies that rely upon complex multinational supply chains remain especially vulnerable to policy changes. The administration’s latest proposal requires that 75% of the components for vehicles built in Mexico and Canada come from North America, up from 62.5% under the current NAFTA agreement. The plan also caps the number of vehicles that can be imported from Canada and Mexico without tariffs and requires that a certain share of auto parts comes from factories that pay workers at least $16 per hour.

The proposed changes leave manufactures in a catch-22: Moving production to the U.S. could increase costs and erode profits, while tariffs on vehicles exported from Mexico and Canada could eat into their market share as they lose sales to American-made models.

The specter of rising costs and showroom retail prices is designed to incentivize European and Asian car companies to set up production in North America. Though companies including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan have moved some overseas operations to the southeast U.S. over the past decade or so, recently about a dozen automakers have also opened plants in Mexico to cut labor and production costs.

Starting at $35,800, the third-generation Volvo S60 is priced to compete against other midsize sedans such as the BMW 3-Series, Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Infiniti Q50, and Lexus IS.

Half of the vehicles made at Volvo’s South Carolina factory will be exported to markets including Europe, China and South America. The automaker plans to expand production to begin building its V60 wagon in 2019 and XC90 full-size SUV in 2021.

But setting up shop in South Carolina, not far from BMW’s largest global plant in Spartanburg, isn’t a cure-all. The Trump administration’s proposed 25% tariff on Chinese imports could also prompt a backlash against U.S.-built vehicles exported to China, Volvo’s largest market.

“Because Volvo planned and built this factory long before Trump started a trade war, the fact they are now rolling cars off the line doesn’t signal much about their optimism or lack thereof,” said Kyle Handley, assistant professor of business economics and public policy at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “If there are any effects of the trade war, it will be on the scale of current and future production.”

Volvo, which began refurbishing its lineup three years ago, is undergoing a growth spurt, with U.S. sales up 30% for the first nine months of the year.

Its new Care by Volvo subscription service has also proved popular. The program offers a flat monthly rate that includes insurance and maintenance and allows customers to trade in their car after 12 months. The plan, which is currently available only for Volvo’s XC40 compact crossover, sold its projected annual volume within the first four months. Volvo says most Care by Volvo customers are new to the brand.

Though the S60 will not be sold under the subscription model initially, Volvo plans to load it with enough luxuries to keep it out of bareboned rental fleets, which can lower a car’s prestige and resale value, according to Gustafsson. “We have a strategy that this car will absolutely not be a rental car.”