欧洲车企新年面临老问题

    标致正与欧宝合并？

    法国《世界报》（Le Monde）上刊登了一篇文章，被“汽车真相”网站（The Truth About Cars）译为英语进行转载。文章称，法国政府正推动标致走得更远，要从通用汽车手中直接收购欧宝。鉴于欧宝的业绩及通用欲摆脱这一财务负担的现状，PSA有可能一文不花就能买下它。但PSA可能要为欧宝注入50亿美元或更多钱才能让它恢复生机。在《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）近期对丹•埃克森做的一则专访中，他对欧洲分公司并未给予明确支持。问及“拥有欧宝还是通用的目标吗？是不是有传言称要出售欧宝？”他的回答很简单：“不，没这种说法。”然后就此打住。

    雷诺日子也不好过

    PSA并不是法国经济悲剧的唯一主角。雷诺公司（Renault）希望其法国所有工厂的工人周工作时间增加6.5%，达到35个小时，这样每年就能省下8,500万美元。首席运营官卡洛斯•塔瓦雷斯直言，欧洲的汽车工厂太多了，英国和西班牙的车厂比雷诺在法国的车厂竞争力更强。这种表态当然会让他在强势的法国工会那里不怎么受欢迎。

    俄罗斯也面临窘境

    上周，欧洲市场版图上为数不多的亮点之一也变得稍许黯淡下来，并可能也会遭遇产能过剩之患。本来，俄罗斯已成为欧洲仅次于德国的第二大汽车市场。但据专业汽车新闻刊物《汽车新闻》（Automotive News）称，一些行业观察家确信，随着销售趋于平稳，这个市场可能也会陷入停滞。文章引述一位知名商人称，他认为“未来数月”经济不会出现任何增长迹象。但是，各大汽车厂商仍在继续扩大产能。大众汽车（Volkswagen）正在兴建一座新的发动机工厂，福特汽车正建造第四座组装厂，而俄罗斯最大车企伏尔加【AUTOVAZ，以其商标拉达（Lada）而知名】与雷诺-日产（Renault-Nissan）合建的工厂将把年产能提升到35万辆。

    大众汽车开足马力

    毕马威（KPMG）开展的一项针对汽车业高管所做的调查显示，大众汽车被认为是未来五年内最有可能夺取世界市场霸主地位的厂商。2012年12月，大众宣布，截至11月底，其销量已超过2011年全年，总销量为829万辆。这一佳绩意味着它拿下了西欧市场24.9%的份额，在前一年23.3%的基础上有所增长，足以挡住菲亚特（Fiat）的攻势。菲亚特总裁马尔乔内表示，大众靠野蛮定价正在开展“大屠杀”，并希望借此彻底清洗实力不足的对手。

    慕尼黑上演宝马传奇

    2012年，宝马集团（BMW Group）的销量达到了创纪录的185万辆，比一年前增长了11%，因此，此时该公司正打开香槟大肆庆祝。同时，宝马预计2013年销量将再次创纪录。去年，豪华车买主让宝马超越奥迪（Audi）和奔驰（Mercedes），登上了全球最畅销高端品牌的宝座。但真正立下大功的是小型宝马车：宝马1系的销量增长了29%，3系的销量占宝马总销量的四分之一还多。

    A Peugeot-Opel merger in the works?

    A story that in appeared Le Monde and was reported in English by The Truth About Cars website, says the French government was pushing Peugeot to go further and buy Opel from GM. Given Opel's performance and GM's desire to rid itself of the financial liability, PSA could probably buy it for nothing. But it might find itself sinking $5 billion or more into Opel to make it viable. Dan Akerson gave his European unit a less-than-ringing endorsement in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. When asked "Is it still GM's goal to own Opel? Are there talks of selling it?" he replied tersely, "No, there are no talks." End of.

    Renault is hurting too

    PSA isn't alone in its Franco-misery. Renault wants workers at all its French plants to boost their workweek 6.5% to 35 hours, so it can save $85 million a year. Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares has been outspoken in his belief that there are too many car plants in Europe and that factories in England and Spain are more competitive than Renault's in France. That won't make him very popular with France's robust labor unions.

    Even Russia's got the blues

    One of the few bright spots in the European picture turned a bit darker this week and may be about to suffer from the same disease of overcapacity. Russia has grown to become the continent's second-largest car market after Germany. But according to Automotive News, some industry watchers believe it might be stagnating as sales level off. A prominent businessman was quoted as saying he did not expect to see any growth in the economy "in the coming months." Still, automakers continue to expand there. Volkswagen is building a new engine plant, Ford is adding a fourth assembly plant, and AutoVaz (otherwise known by its trade name of Lada) is gearing up to produce 350,000 vehicles a year at a factory in partnership with Renault-Nissan.

    But in Wolfsburg, VW rolls on

    A survey of top automotive executives surveyed by KPMG picked VW as the automaker most likely to gain global market share over the next five years. Volkswagen announced in December that by the end of November it had beaten its sales for all of 2011, with a total of 8.29 million vehicles sold. It has even been strong enough to fend off attacks by Fiat by commanding 24.9% of the Western European auto market, up from 23.3% a year ago. Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne has said that VW is creating a "bloodbath" with its savage pricing and wants to drive its weaker competitors out of business.

    Meanwhile in Munich...

    The BMW Group is popping bottles of sekt sparkling wine after selling a record 1.85 million vehicles in 2012, up 11% from a year ago, and it is forecasting another record year in 2013. Luxury car customers made BMW the best-selling premium brand worldwide over Audi and Mercedes last year, but it was the smaller Bimmers that made the difference: Sales of the 1- series rose 29%, while 3-series sales represented more than a quarter of total BMW volume.