Beijing Auto Seeks Path To Quick Growth
北汽控股寻求快速发展之路
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. is looking to its president, Wang Dazong, to steer its quest to grow quickly as China seeks to boil down its sprawling auto industry into a smaller number of more-potent car makers.
目前中国正努力整合无序扩张的汽车业，减少企业数量、增强企业实力。在这种情况下，北京汽车工业控股有限公司寄希望于总经理汪大总来把握探索快速发展的道路。
'If you're an auto maker and want any chance in surviving, you really have to go global and become bigger,' Mr. Wang said in an interview.
汪大总在接受采访时说，如果你是一家汽车生产商，想抓住任何生存的机会，你就真的必须走向世界、扩大规模。
Beijing Auto became China's first auto maker to team up with a foreign counterpart -- 25 years ago with then-American Motor Corp. to produce and sell Jeeps in China. But despite that early break, it has failed to thrive, while rivals such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. have roared ahead.
北汽控股是首个与外国厂商合作的中国汽车生产商。25年前，该公司与当时的美国汽车公司(American Motor Corp.)合作在中国生产并销售吉普(Jeep)车。然而，尽管占了这样的先机，北汽控股却没能发展壮大，而上海汽车工业（集团）总公司等竞争对手却飞速发展起来。
Mr. Wang may be Beijing Auto's best chance for a comeback. Tapped as president to revitalize the company, the U.S.-educated 55-year-old executive worked for General Motors Co. for 21 years before joining GM's Chinese partner, Shanghai Auto, in 2006 and then leaving for Beijing Auto early last year.
汪大总有望成为北汽控股打“翻身仗”的最佳机会。汪大总现年55岁，曾留学美国。在通用汽车(General Motors Co.)工作了21年后，他于2006年加入通用汽车在华合作伙伴上汽集团。去年初进入北汽控股担任总经理，负责重振公司活力。
Even among a throng of Chinese-born executives now returning from Detroit and other troubled motor towns, Mr. Wang is a rarity in that he held a management position in GM's product-development division for more than a decade. Along with Wang Chuanfu of BYD Co. and Li Shufu of Geely Holding Group, Mr. Wang is a Chinese car executive to watch as China overtakes the U.S. as the world's biggest car market this year and as its car makers expand overseas.
即便是在一大批从底特律和其他陷入困境的汽车城回国的中国高管中，汪大总仍是个少有的人才：他在通用汽车产品开发部门担任管理职务长达10多年。在今年中国取代美国成为全球最大的汽车市场、中国汽车生产商在海外扩大业务之际，汪大总和比亚迪的王传福、吉利的李书福都是目前备受关注的中国汽车业高管。
'This is a challenging job for him,' says Zhang Junyi, a Shanghai-based senior consultant with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, pointing to the fact that Beijing Auto, owned by the municipal government of Beijing, is often a 'politically charged' place. Still, Mr. Wang 'knows how to maneuver within China and on the global stage,' he says.
罗兰?贝格(Roland Berger Strategy Consultants)驻上海高级顾问张君毅说，这对汪大总来说是一项极具挑战的工作，原因是存在这样一个事实：由北京市政府所有的北汽控股常常是个充满政治色彩的地方。不过张君毅说，汪大总知道如何回旋于中国和全球舞台上。
A challenge for Mr. Wang is strengthening Beijing Auto's brand, the Beijing, a minor player in China's domestic market that now has only a small lineup of aging sport-utility vehicles. Beijing Auto's main businesses, in fact, are joint ventures with Hyundai Motor Co. and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit, as well as a heavy-truck producer called Foton.
对汪大总来说，一项重要挑战是加强北汽控股的品牌“北京吉普”。北京吉普在中国国内市场上是一个较小的参与者，目前只有少量老旧的SUV车型。实际上，北汽控股的主要业务是与现代汽车(Hyundai Motor Co.)和戴姆勒公司(Daimler AG)旗下奔驰(Mercedes-Ben)子公司的合资企业，以及一个重型卡车制造公司北汽福田。
To Mr. Wang, it is clear that the road to a strong brand is via foreign technology and know-how, best achieved by buying into a troubled overseas auto maker -- similar to how Shanghai Auto developed its Roewe brand using technology from MG Rover.
对汪大总来说，很明显通往实力强大品牌的道路是通过采用外国技术和诀窍，最好的获取方法就是收购一家陷入困境的海外汽车生产商，类似于上汽集团利用MG罗孚汽车集团(MG Rover)的技术开发荣威(Roewe)品牌。
In July, Beijing Auto was set back in its global push when it was forced to drop a bid for control of GM's Adam Opel GmbH unit. GM, which sees China as a priority and which plans to tap Opel's technology even after it gives up control, balked at creating a rival with similar technology, according to a person close to GM.
7月份，北汽控股全球扩张的努力受阻，当时该公司被迫放弃竞购通用汽车旗下欧宝(Adam Opel GmbH)子公司的控制权。通用汽车视中国为首要市场，就算它放弃对欧宝的控制，也仍计划利用欧宝的技术。据一位知情人士说，通用汽车不愿创造一个采用类似技术的竞争对手。
But Mr. Wang had a backup plan. The idea, which Mr. Wang says he and Beijing Auto's management team formulated with the help of investment bank Morgan Stanley, was to take a minority stake in Swedish sports-car maker Koenigsegg Automotive AB and help fund its bid for GM's Saab unit -- an agreement Beijing Auto reached last month, although it isn't yet finalized.
不过汪大总有一个备用计划。他说，这个计划是他和北汽控股管理团队在投行摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)的帮助下制定出来的。根据这一计划，北汽控股将收购瑞典跑车生产商科尼赛克(Koenigsegg Automotive AB)的少数股权；这一计划还将帮助为竞购通用汽车旗下萨博(Saab)子公司提供资金。北汽控股上个月与通用汽车就收购萨博达成了协议，不过尚未完成。
'It was quite a coup,' says Michael Dunne, managing director of China operations for J.D. Power and Associates.
调查研究公司J.D. Power and Associates中国业务董事总经理丹恩(Michael Dunne)说，这真是打了一场漂亮仗。
Through its indirect link to Saab, Mr. Wang wants to gain access to Saab's vehicle technology, much of which comes from Opel and GM. In return, Beijing Auto will try to help revive Saab by boosting its vehicle sales in China.
通过与萨博间接的联系，汪大总希望获得萨博的汽车技术。萨博的技术大部分来自欧宝和通用汽车。作为交换条件，北汽控股将帮助提振萨博在中国的销售，努力帮助萨博恢复活力。
This time, GM is supportive of Beijing Auto's move. That's because Saab, unlike Opel, is to be sold off entirely and thus won't get technical updates from either Opel or GM after a certain period of time, the person close to GM says.
这次，通用汽车支持北汽控股的行动。这位接近通用的知情人士说，原因是，与欧宝不同的是，萨博将被全盘卖掉，所以在一定的时间之后，就不能从欧宝和通用汽车获得技术升级了。
Mr. Wang wants to build the company's Beijing brand to sell well more than 300,000 vehicles a year. In total, counting Foton vehicles and others, Mr. Wang wants Beijing Auto to produce and sell two million vehicles by 2011, up from an expected 1.13 million this year.
汪大总希望打造北京吉普的品牌，实现远超过30万辆的年销量。汪大总希望，到2011年前，将福田等汽车计算在内，北汽控股的总产销量将从今年预计的113万辆增长至200万辆。
Mr. Wang is driven by a determination for Beijing Auto to not only survive the central government's move to consolidate China's fragmented auto industry -- now teeming with more than 80 auto makers of all sizes -- but also to come out of the consolidation as one of China's top-tier auto makers.
汪大总的动力来自这样一种决心：北汽控股不仅会从中央政府整合中国高度分散的汽车业中幸存下来，而且会成为中国一流的汽车生产商之一。中国目前有80多家各类汽车生产商。
Norihiko Shirouzu
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