2007年10月09日11:40
Auto Makers Weigh In On Steel
大众汽车(Volkswagen AG)董事长文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)对欧洲钢铁生产商发出警告说，如果不能生产出节能型汽车需要的更轻、强度更高的钢材，它们有可能失去一部分利润最可观的生意。
The chairman of Europe's largest car maker, Volkswagen AG, warned steelmakers here that they risk losing some of their most-lucrative business unless they produce lighter, stronger steel needed for fuel-efficient cars.
文德恩说，汽车生产商正在尽可能用铝和塑料来代替钢材以减轻汽车的重量。他认为，钢铁业必须加快新型钢材的开发速度。
Martin Winterkorn, chairman of Volkswagen's management board, said auto makers are substituting aluminum or plastics for steel wherever possible to reduce vehicles' weight. 'I believe the steel industry has to become faster in developing new steel,' he said.
他对在柏林召开全球年会的钢铁生产商们说，大众已经开发出了一款试验车，它不需要任何钢材。大众汽车是欧洲销量最大的汽车生产商。
He told the steelmakers, gathered here for their annual world conference, that Volkswagen, Europe's No. 1 auto maker by number of vehicles sold, has developed an experimental vehicle that doesn't contain any steel.
不过无钢型主流轿车即使有面市的那一天，也将是很久以后的事了。钢材依然比铝材料便宜而比塑料更结实。但随着汽车生产商开始用铝材料生产引擎盖、用塑料生产小型车内零部件，钢材的相对优势正在变小。
Mainstream cars made entirely without steel are a long way off, if they ever come to pass. Steel is still less expensive than aluminum and much stronger than plastic. But that advantage is eroding as auto makers begin to make hoods out of aluminum or small internal parts out of plastic.
汽车暴露在外部分所用的钢材不能用回收材料生产，它们必须能够经受风雨的侵蚀。与其他钢材相比这类钢材的价格通常较高，钢铁生产商们十分看重这部分市场。
Exposed steel used in automobiles can't be made with recycled material and has to be treated to withstand the elements. It generally commands higher prices than other types of steel and represents a key market for steelmakers.
美国钢铁公司(U.S. Steel Corp.)首席执行长约翰?祖尔马(John Surma)对文德恩的观点表示认同。他说美国钢铁公司在底特律附近有一家汽车技术中心，那里正在开发新的钢材，该公司计划与汽车生产商的工程师们开展更紧密的合作。
'We essentially agree with [Mr. Winterkorn's] point of view,' said John Surma, chief executive of U.S. Steel Corp. He said U.S. Steel has an automobile technical center near Detroit that is developing new steel and that his company plans to work more closely with auto makers' engineers.
汽车生产商们希望能够制定一个汽车用钢的全行业标准，他们认为同行间的合作有助于促进研发和创新。但钢铁生产商们却很难接受这一观点，他们不愿意与竞争对手分享生产工艺。Tata Steel Ltd.董事总经理B. Muthuraman针对这种缺乏业内交流的情况向其钢铁业同行们发出了警告。他说，现在的问题是，钢铁企业在技术创新方面往往单打独斗，没有形成一种全行业合作创新以应对铝和塑料领域挑战的氛围，这种局面无助于提高钢铁行业的竞争力。
Auto makers want an industrywide standard, believing collaboration will help spur development and innovation. That approach is a hard sell to steelmakers, which are reluctant to share manufacturing processes with rivals. B. Muthuraman, managing director of Tata Steel Ltd., admonished fellow steelmakers for working in isolation. 'The problem is often innovation for steel becomes a company-guarded strategy as opposed to an industrywide strategy to compete with aluminum and plastics. We can't be competitive doing that,' he said.
钢铁生产商已享受了好几年产品价格高企、市场需求强劲的好时光，这一良好增长局面预计还将持续下去。但高涨的钢材价格正促使汽车生产商们改用其他材料。
Steelmakers have enjoyed several years of high prices and strong demand, and the growth is expected to continue. But the high prices encourage car makers to turn elsewhere.
世界最大钢铁生产商安赛乐米塔尔(ArcelorMittal)首席执行长拉什米?米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)对钢铁行业应与汽车制造商更紧密合作的观点表示赞同。但他同时表示，自己对汽车用钢的市场前景并不十分担心，因为不用钢就造不出好车。
Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel maker, agreed that the industry has to work more closely with auto companies. However, he said, 'I am not much worried. There could not be a good car without steel.'
Robert Guy Matthews
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