Wrong timefor China,Right opportunity

Each day brings a new rumour about a troubled US carmaker peddling brands to China: one day Ford is rumoured to be selling Volvo to Chery, one of China's biggest car companies; the next day General Motors is said to be selling Hummer to little Sichuan Motors.

Nothing is impossible in China but, as US automakers scramble to raise funds, car industry insiders in China say they do not expect Beijing to take over Detroit in the near future. They say that most Chinese companies lack the money, the expertise or the appetite for risk required to buy a foreign auto brand now – and many lack all three.

 “Chinese automakers find the prospect of owning a foreign brand tantalising but it's the right opportunity at the wrong time,” says Mike Dunne of JD Power, the auto consultancy, in Shanghai. “Uncertain economic conditions make them skittish: surviving at home is the number one priority.”

He adds that things could be different if market conditions change, noting that some companies have cash or could secure government funding. But sources close to some of China's biggest automakers say they know they do not have the expertise to manage a foreign brand in a downturn abroad, especially at a time of depressed sales at home.

The failure of Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), China's biggest carmaker, to make a success of its high-profile acquisition of 51 per cent of Ssangyong, the South Korean automaker that was recently placed in bankruptcy protection, is a cautionary tale that has not been lost on Beijing.

SAIC says it has learned from its problems with Ssangyong's labour unions, and the experience will make it “more confident and experienced about purchasing and operating overseas operations” in future.

But sources close to the company say not to expect another acquisition soon. “Our current priority is obviously to capture domestic market growth,” SAIC says.

Zheng Jun, auto analyst at Citic Securities, says auto assets currently up for sale are not a good match for Chinese companies anyway.

 “The core competence of Chinese manufacturers lies in low-cost management,” Mr Zheng says, noting that “it would be very hard for Geely to leverage the purchase of Volvo, because Geely hardly has any know-how in luxury brands”.

Volvo speculation often focuses on Geely and Chery, another Chinese automaker, which recently won a Rmb10bn ($1.46bn) line of credit from China's Export-Import Bank. But industry insiders say they do not believe Chery will buy a foreign brand.

Meanwhile, Ford has made preliminary contacts with Chinese car companies in its quest to sell Volvo, industry insiders say.

參考譯文：

每天都會有陷入困境的美國汽車制造商向中國兜售旗下品牌的新傳聞：有一天，傳聞稱福特(Ford)將把沃爾沃(Volvo)賣給中國最大的汽車公司之一奇瑞(Chery)；另一天，傳聞稱通用汽車(General Motors)將把悍馬(Hummer)賣給規(guī)模較小的四川汽車(Sichuan Motors)。

在中國，一切皆有可能，但當(dāng)美國汽車制造商忙于籌措資金之際，中國汽車業(yè)業(yè)內(nèi)人士表示，他們預(yù)計中國政府近期內(nèi)不會接手底特律。他們表示，大多數(shù)中國公司目前都缺乏收購一個外國汽車品牌所需的資金、專業(yè)技能或興趣——并且許多公司三者都缺乏。

汽車咨詢機構(gòu)JD Power駐上海的邁克爾?鄧恩(Mike Dunne)表示：“中國汽車制造商覺得擁有一個外國品牌的前景非常誘人，但這是在糟糕形勢下出現(xiàn)的良機。不確定的經(jīng)濟環(huán)境讓他們有些膽怯：在國內(nèi)市場活下來才是首要任務(wù)?！?/SPAN>

他補充稱，考慮到有些公司擁有現(xiàn)金或可以獲得政府融資，如果市場環(huán)境出現(xiàn)變化，情況可能會有所不同。但接近中國部分最大汽車制造商的消息來源表示，這些制造商明白，自己不具備在海外市場低迷的情況下管理一個外國品牌的技能，尤其是在國內(nèi)銷售不振的情況下。

中國最大的汽車制造商上海汽車(Shanghai Automotive)收購韓國汽車制造商雙龍(Ssangyong) 51%股權(quán)這一備受矚目的交易未獲成功，至今仍對中國政府起到警示作用。雙龍最近已進入破產(chǎn)保護程序。

上海汽車表示，從與雙龍工會的問題中得到了教訓(xùn)，而這段經(jīng)歷將會使其在未來“購買和運營海外業(yè)務(wù)時更為自信，也更有經(jīng)驗?！?/FONT>