汽车业八大失败并购案例

结局

    多亏在中国的旺销势头，捷豹和路虎才得以扬眉吐气。去年两者的销售都创下纪录，比前年增长29%。彭博社（Bloomberg）认为这两大品牌现在价值140亿美元。而福特的表现尽管差不多同样出色，但现在必须面对中国市场增速放缓、欧洲市场衰退和北美市场竞争激烈的残酷现实。

戴姆勒-克莱斯勒

    1998年，戴姆勒-奔驰（Daimler-Benz）在臭名昭著的“平等地位合并”（merger of equals）中以370亿美元收购了克莱斯勒公司。克莱斯勒在德国人的领导下日子并不好过，在经历了一系列亏损后，戴姆勒将这家美国公司80%的股份以74亿美元卖给了私募股权公司瑟伯勒斯资本管理公司（Cerberus Capital Management）。乔纳斯估计，戴姆勒为了剥离克莱斯勒共花了93亿美元。

结局

    完成这一抛售后，戴姆勒迎来了营收猛增的大好局面。但在与主要对手宝马竞逐销售冠军的过程中，梅赛德斯-奔驰似乎略逊一筹，后劲不足。2010年，梅赛德斯宣布与日产汽车（Nissan）合作，共同开发小型车。2009年，克莱斯勒申请破产。但在意大利的菲亚特公司（Fiat）几乎不花分文收购它后，它在新东家的管理下也开始走上了正轨，生意日渐兴隆。在菲亚特的帮助下，克莱斯勒成功地更新了产品线，提高了销售额。

福特-沃尔沃

    1999年，福特看准了收购沃尔沃汽车（Volvo Cars）这一规模不大却利润颇丰的小型瑞典厂商的良机，果断出手，花了64.5亿美元将其收入囊中。一转眼十年过去，在多年给予支持仍亏损不止，数次尝试整合其运营却宣告无果后，福特将沃尔沃以18亿美元的价格卖给了中国浙江的吉利控股集团（Geely Holding Group）。

结局

    出售沃尔沃后的数日内，福特就宣布将让水星（Mercury）这一品牌寿终正寝，只留下林肯（Lincoln）作为唯一的高端品牌。和沃尔沃一样，林肯现在也正在彻底改造产品线。在首席执行官斯特凡•雅各布的领导下，沃尔沃现在放眼未来，将2020年的销售目标定到了80万台。

通用-萨博

    2000年，通用汽车用6.5亿美元收购了萨博，随后又追加了无数投资试图使之盈利。但十年后，通用迫不及待地将它出手，以7,400万美元的价格卖给了荷兰的世爵汽车（Spyker Cars）。作为一家完全没有管理小型汽车厂商经验的精品车公司，世爵正努力推出全新的93和94x酷越车，而萨博则在2011年破产。

结局

    世爵向各路中国买家兜售萨博，但通用汽车宣布不再继续发放专利和技术的许可证，让这一兜售胎死腹中。萨博大多数零部件现在都卖给了一家中国电动车厂商。

通用-悍马

    1998年，通用汽车购买了悍马（Hummer）的命名权，并在通用的平台上推出了三款车型——H2和H3系列。悍马最初也受到过一阵热捧，但后来，它那夸张的造型和油老虎的胃口对正遭遇经济低迷的消费者来说成了一种负担，因此2009年，通用也将它摆上了出售的货架。

结局

    一家中国的重型工业设备制造商开始想买下悍马，但中国当局阻止了这一交易。由于没有其他买家，通用开始停产这一车型，并于2010年5月卖掉了最后一台悍马。

    译者：清远

Bottom Line

    Thanks to surging sales in China, both Jaguar and Land Rover are thriving. Each posted record results in the last fiscal year, with sales up 29% from the previous year. Bloomberg figures the two brands are now worth $14 billion. Ford has done nearly as well but now faces a slowdown in China, a recession in Europe, and tough competition in North America.

Daimler-Chrysler

    In 1998, Daimler-Benz took over Chrysler for $37 billion in the notorious "merger of equals." Chrysler suffered under German direction, and after a series of losses, Daimler sold 80% of the American company to the private equity firm of Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 billion. Jonas figures it cost Daimler $9.3 billion to exit Chrysler.

Bottom Line

    Daimler earnings popped after the sale, but its Mercedes-Benz brand seemed to lose momentum to archrival BMW, with whom it now competes for sales leadership. In 2010, Mercedes announced another partnership, this one with Nissan to develop small cars. Chrysler, since filing bankruptcy in 2009, has prospered under the control of Italy's Fiat, which acquired the American automaker for essentially nothing. With Fiat's help, Chrysler has updated its product line successfully and boosted sales.

Ford-Volvo

    When Ford saw an opportunity to acquire Volvo Cars -- a profitable though smallish Swedish automaker -- in 1999, it jumped at the opportunity and paid $6.45 billion. A decade later, after supporting Volvo through years of losses and tentative efforts to integrate its operations, it sold the company to China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group for $1.8 billion.

Bottom Line

    Within days of disposing of Volvo, Ford announced it was also terminating Mercury, leaving Lincoln as its sole upscale brand. Lincoln is currently overhauling its product line -- as is Volvo. Under the leadership of CEO Stefan Jacoby, Volvo is focusing its gaze far out in the future and has set a goal of 800,000 unit sales by 2020.

M-Saab

    After buying Saab for $650 million in 2000 and investing countless additional millions to make it profitable, GM wound up unloading it ten years later for $74 million to the Netherlands' Spyker Cars. A boutique manufacturer with no experience managing even a small automaker, Spyker struggled to launch a new 9-3 sedan and the 9-4x crossover vehicle, and Saab collapsed into bankruptcy a year later.

Bottom Line

    Spyker shopped Saab widely to Chinese buyers, but GM blocked a sale by announcing it would not continue its licenses to patents and technology. Most of Saab's working parts have now been sold to a Chinese electric car manufacturer.

GM-Hummer

    GM bought the rights to the Hummer name in 1998 and marketed three vehicles, the H2 and H3 on GM platforms. After an initial spurt of interest, Hummer's over-the-top styling and voracious appetite for gasoline came to be seen as a liability in a weak economy, and GM put it up for sale in 2009.

Bottom Line

    A Chinese maker of heavy industrial equipment wanted Hummer, but the Beijing government blocked the deal. With no other buyers on the horizon, GM began shutting the marque down and built the very last Hummer in May 2010.