斯巴鲁的另类生存?（节选）

    不管是哪家车企，同时拥有两款热销车型实在非比寻常，更何况是斯巴鲁这样的小公司。

    今天，斯巴鲁开辟了一个最适合自己的市场，获得了丰厚利润，因为它正像一位全美橄榄球联盟（NFL）的接球手，已学会如何在边线求胜。比如，在竞争激烈的中级车市场上，斯巴鲁绕开了凯美瑞、雅阁和天籁（Altima）这些重磅车型，给力狮（Legacy）搭载了全时四驱系统（AWD），这是其他车型通常不会提供的。它也不用准备昂贵的销售赠品，因为它的车总是货源紧俏，而买斯巴鲁的车主往往经济条件不错，对促销活动并不太在意。8月，斯巴鲁花在每辆车上的赠品仅为857美元；只有保时捷（Porsche）这方面花费更少。专业汽车网站Edmunds.com的资深分析师杰西卡·考德威尔称，斯巴鲁车主往往有能力买更贵的车，不会紧抠价格，而且即使经济不景气，他们也会继续购买。

    不过，就算是这样，斯巴鲁或其母公司富士重工的日子也并不好过。在以规模制胜的汽车业，它们实在微不足道。斯巴鲁的产品线里，没有像本田飞度（Fit）这样的微型车，也没有丰田“亚洲龙”（Avalon）这样的全尺寸大车。斯巴鲁所有车型和酷越车仅有两个生产平台【通用汽车（General Motors）有30个！】，所有车型的尺寸只从超小型延伸到中型车。现在，斯巴鲁需要与丰田合作，使BRZ具备经济性。斯巴鲁负责该车大部分工程，提供引擎，而丰田负责外形设计，并推出了一款几乎一模一样，名为赛恩FR-S（Scion FR-S）的跑车。

    斯巴鲁的美国高管汤姆·多尔驾驶着一辆森林人（Forester）。

    当造型笨拙的七座车“驰鹏”（Tribeca）这样的新车型没能在市场上取得成功时，小型车的销量会受到冲击。对小车厂商来说，要在新技术上保持优势也颇为困难。斯巴鲁标志性的四缸水平对置发动机（boxer）设计已有20年之久；而在丰田的普锐斯（Prius）已经上市15年后，斯巴鲁的首款混合动力车才计划于明年面世。2011年3月，日本大地震和海啸对斯巴鲁冲击极大，致使其在日本的工厂关闭了四周之久，同时还导致它运往在美唯一工厂的零部件物流中断。这所工厂位于印第安纳州的拉斐特市。当时经销商求车若渴。斯巴鲁平时的库存量维持在32,000辆，当时却下降到17,000辆，严重影响了销售业绩。

    最终斯巴鲁恢复了生机，但现在又面临新的挑战。它必须迎头赶上竞争对手，为全系车型开发更省油的动力系统，在日本以外开设更多工厂，分散汇率风险，同时在美国扩大销售渠道。而且，它还得注意防范新的不利因素。一年前，上升势头正猛的大众汽车（Volkswagen）挖走了斯巴鲁的营销高管。另据业内报告称，大众正在考虑开发一款全新酷越车，它的离地间距、保险杠和轮罩拱镀层完全就冲着斯巴鲁最畅销的车型而去。

    因此，斯巴鲁必须找到差异化的新路子，同时步子还不能迈得太大。自诞生以来，它就一直特立独行。它的总部在新泽西郊区，与其位于南加州的日本对手们相距千里。多数进口车车企的高层都由销售经理和营销专家担任。但斯巴鲁的美国掌门人却是会计出身，早年在公司担任助理财务总监。而且斯巴鲁的产品开发史上充斥着各类古怪车型，比如BRAT，这是一款小型皮卡，它在后货厢上安装了面朝后方的折叠式座椅，以逃避所谓的“鸡肉关税”（chicken tax，美国对进口皮卡征收的25%的关税——译注）。又如Justy，英国顶级汽车节目Top Gear称其“和自己的名字一样无趣”；还有Baja，这是一款旅行车，它用敞开式货舱代替了后舱，有人把它比喻成一只鸭嘴兽。

    译者：清远

    It's unusual for any car company, let alone one as tiny as Subaru, to have two hit models at once.

    Today Subaru finds itself in a market sweet spot that produces outsize profits because, like an NFL receiver, it has learned how to work the seams. In the overcrowded midsize segment, for instance, Subaru sidesteps heavyweights like Camry, Accord, and Altima by equipping the Legacy with all-wheel drive (AWD), which the others don't offer. It can dodge expensive incentives because its cars are in short supply and its relatively affluent buyers are less sensitive to promotions. In August, Subaru spent just $857 per car on incentives; only Porsche spent less. Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell says Subaru customers are generally capable of affording a more expensive vehicle, don't buy strictly on price, and continue shopping even when the economy takes a dive.

    Even so, life isn't easy for Subaru or its corporate parent, Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries. They are minnows in an industry where size counts. Don't look in Subaru's lineup for any minicars the size of the Honda Fit or for full-size ones like the Toyota Avalon either. All Subaru cars and crossovers are based on just two platforms (General Motors (GM) has 30!), and the vehicles range in size only from subcompact to midsize. Subaru needed to form a partnership with Toyota (TM) to make the BRZ economical. Subaru did most of the engineering and provided the engine, but Toyota created the design and markets an almost identical version called the Scion FR-S.

    Tom Doll, Subaru's top U.S. executive, in a Forester

    Small size hurts when a new model like the awkward seven-passenger Tribeca fails to gain a foothold. It's also hard for a small car maker to keep on top of new technology. Subaru's signature four-cylinder "boxer" design is two decades old, and the company's first hybrid car won't come out until next year, 15 years after Toyota's Prius went on sale. Subaru suffered a near catastrophe when the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 closed factories in Japan for four weeks and interrupted the flow of parts to its sole U.S. plant, in Lafayette, Ind. Dealers were starved for cars. Used to operating with 32,000 cars on the ground, Subaru saw its inventories drop to 17,000, pummeling sales.

    Subaru recovered but now faces fresh challenges. It needs to catch up with competitors by developing fuel-efficient powertrains across its lineup, opening more factories outside Japan to spread its currency risk, and expanding its U.S. sales footprint. And it has to keep looking over its shoulder. Fast-rising Volkswagen poached Subaru's top marketing executive a year ago, and according to industry reports, VW is considering a new crossover with ride height, bumpers, and wheel-arch cladding that takes dead aim at Subaru's most popular models.

    So Subaru will have to find new ways to differentiate itself, which shouldn't be much of a stretch. Since its founding, it has always gone its own way. Its headquarters are in a New Jersey suburb, several thousand miles away from its Japanese competitors in Southern California. While former sales managers and marketing experts sit atop most import car companies, Subaru's highest American executive is an accountant who started at the company as an assistant treasurer. And Subaru's product history is studded with oddities like the BRAT, a mini-pickup with rear-facing jump seats bolted to the rear bed to circumvent a tariff known as the chicken tax; the Justy, whichTop Gear said "manages the impressive feat of being as boring as its name promises"; and the Baja, a station wagon, built with an open cargo bed in place of a rear compartment, which one reviewer compared to a platypus.