突破汽车垄断 中国制造"驶"向全球

On a typical journey from Beijing to Boston, a traveller might fly a Boeing 777 on Hainan Airlines’ new direct service between the two cities and then take a German-built subway carriage on the Blue line from Logan Airport to Government Center. There, a family member might be waiting in a Volvo, a car that has long been popular with drivers in New England despite the Swedish carmaker’s larger travails.
Substitute a Comac C929 for the Boeing 777, a CNR Corp subway car for the Blue Line’s Siemens-made rolling stock and a Geely GC9 for the Volvo, and you have the Chinese government’s vision of a future in which long-distance travel features made-in-China planes, trains and automobiles.
Planes aside, that future could be coming sooner than many people realise. In October, CNR, one of China’s two largest rolling stock manufacturers, surprised the global rail industry by winning a $570m tender to supply more than 280 subway cars to Boston’s public transit system.
Like so many of China’s industrial advances, this one came as a bolt from the blue after years of quiet development and a steady accumulation of contracts and experience primarily in developing markets. Chinese companies are increasingly aiming for contracts in the US and other mature economies, potentially foreshadowing a reshaping of the global rail industry. But their ambitions ultimately extend far beyond Boston, and to industries far beyond rail.
To win over Boston area transport officials, CNR promised to assemble the subway cars at a new facility in Springfield, a city in western Massachusetts desperate for investment and jobs. CNR’s bid was also by far the lowest submitted, coming in almost 50 per cent below Bombardier’s $1.08bn.
In the process, Chinese executives learned a bit about community politics, Boston-style. Guided by US lobbyists and a PR specialist who had previously worked for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, CNR wisely kept its cool as local activists tried to tie the contract decision, rather tenuously, to China’s record on human rights.
Lu Xiwei, head of the CNR unit that will deliver the subway cars, also deftly fended off — in polite English — a pack of Boston reporters who wanted to compare the base salaries of his company’s China workforce to US blue-collar workers.
Separately, Mr Lu schmoozed everyone from Springfield mayor Domenic Sarno to neighbourhood groups and the editorial board of The Republican, a local newspaper. “We are not here just for one project,” Mr Lu assured them, as he outlined plans to invest $60m in a disused Westinghouse plant and create 250 jobs. “We are entering into the entire North American market from here.”
Springfield swooned, grateful at the opportunity to get back into the railway business. The city used to be home to the Wason Manufacturing Co, which supplied the funeral train that transported Abraham Lincoln’s body back to Illinois after his assassination in Washington. Wason closed its plant during the Great Depression.
As for Chinese cars, most New England Volvo drivers are probably unaware that their beloved Swedish brand has belonged to a Chinese company, Zhejiang Geely, since 2009 — or that Volvo will begin small-scale exports of Chinese-made cars to the US this year.
Like Jaguar Land Rover, the UK manufacturing champion that has thrived under Indian ownership, Volvo retains its original identity. Indeed, Volvo’s own turnround can probably be credited to Geely’s willingness to give its European managers more freedom than they ever enjoyed under their previous owner, Ford Motor.
Convincing US drivers to buy one of Geely’s Chinese brands, such as its new flagship GC9 sedan, will be a much harder task. But as Bob Grace, head of JLR’s China operations, has observed, crazier things have happened before in the car industry. “You’ve seen [Czech brand] Skoda go from being one of the bargain basement brands . . . to become very successful under the VW group,” he said in a briefing last year.
“Things do change relatively in a short period of time and I think the Chinese will shorten that timeline more than most.”
Finally, there is China’s vision of replacing that Hainan Airlines Boeing 777 with a C929 — Beijing’s state-funded wide-body airliner project. Even the most ambitious Chinese government officials would probably admit this remains a distant dream that is decades away.

通常而言，从北京到波士顿的旅行者，可能要先乘坐海航(Hainan Airlines)新开通的北京到波士顿直飞航线上的波音(Boeing) 777飞机，然后搭乘波士顿地铁蓝线(Blue line)，在德国制造的地铁车厢中从洛根机场(Logan Airport)站坐到政府中心(Government Center)站下车。你的家人或许已经开着沃尔沃(Volvo)在那里等候了。尽管这家瑞典汽车制造商总体上经营困难，但沃尔沃汽车长期以来一直受到美国新英格兰地区人们的喜爱。
将那架波音777客机换成中国商飞C929，将波士顿地铁蓝线的西门子(Siemens)地铁车辆换成中国北车(CNR Corp)的产品，将沃尔沃汽车换成吉利(Geely)博瑞GC9，这就是中国政府愿景中未来的长途旅行：中国制造的飞机、列车和汽车。
除去飞机，这样的未来或许会比许多人意识到的更快到来。去年10月，身为中国最大两家列车制造商之一的中国北车让全世界铁路行业大吃一惊：它赢得了波士顿公共交通系统280多辆地铁车辆、价值5.7亿美元的供货大标。
中国的工业进步往往都是这样取得的，这一个也不例外：经过多年悄无声息的发展，主要在发展中市场逐渐积累合同和经验，然后突然一鸣惊人。中国企业越来越多地瞄准美国和其他成熟经济体中的合同，有改变全球铁路行业面貌的势头。不过它们的雄心不会止步于波士顿，也不会止步于铁路行业。
为了赢得波士顿地区交通官员的支持，中国北车承诺要在斯普林菲尔德市建一个新的地铁车辆装配厂。这个位于马萨诸塞州西部的城市眼下急需投资和就业岗位。中国北车的中标价远远低于其他所有投标，比庞巴迪(Bombardier)的投标价（10.8亿美元）低出近50%。
在这个过程中，中国的高管们也领略了一些波士顿风格的社区政治。在美国游说者和曾为马萨诸塞湾交通局(MBTA)效力的一名公关专家指导下，中国北车在当地活动人士试图用中国的人权记录牵强地影响招标决定时保持了冷静。
中国北车美国公司总经理卢西伟还用礼貌的英语，巧妙挡开了一群波士顿记者有关中国工人与美国工人基本工资差异的提问。
此外，卢西伟与各方亲切交谈，从斯普林菲尔德市长多梅尼克•萨诺(Domenic Sarno)、到社区团体和斯普林菲尔德《共和党人报》(The Republican)编委。“我们来这儿不是只做一个项目。”卢西伟向他们保证说。他概述了在西屋电气(Westinghouse)工厂旧址投资6000万美元建厂、创造250个就业岗位的计划。“我们将以这里为起点，进入整个北美市场。”
这个计划让斯普林菲尔德人喜出望外，他们非常感激自己的城市有机会重新回到铁路这一行。这个城市曾经是沃森制造公司(Wason Manufacturing Co)的所在地。当年亚伯拉罕•林肯(Abraham Lincoln)在华盛顿遇刺后，将他的遗体运回伊利诺伊州家乡的林肯灵柩专列就是这家公司生产的。沃森的工厂在大萧条(Great Depression)期间倒闭了。
至于中国汽车，大多数驾驶沃尔沃汽车的新英格兰人大概都不知道，这个他们热爱的瑞典品牌自2009年起就属于一家中国公司（浙江吉利）了，他们大概也不知道沃尔沃从今年开始要向美国小规模出口中国制造的汽车了。
与被印度公司收购后起死回生的捷豹路虎(Jaguar Land Rover)一样（捷豹路虎原本是英国制造业的骄傲），沃尔沃也保留了自己原本的身份。事实上，沃尔沃本身的起死回生，或许也要归功于吉利愿意给予前者的欧洲经理人更多自由，之前在福特汽车(Ford Motor)旗下时，他们从没有拥有过那么大的自由权。
想要说服美国人购买一辆吉利旗下的中国品牌汽车，比如其最新旗舰款博瑞GC9轿车，则应该会困难得多。但是，正如捷豹路虎大中华区总裁高博(Bob Grace)所说，更加疯狂的事情在汽车行业也曾发生过。“有目共睹的是，（捷克品牌）斯柯达(Skoda)被大众(VW)集团收编后就从原本那个不受欢迎的低价品牌……发展成了一个非常成功的品牌。”他去年在一次说明会上表示。
“情况真的会在相对较短的时间里发生改变，而我认为中国人应该会比其他大多数国家的人更快地实现这种改变。”
最后，中国还梦想将海航的波音777客机换成中国商飞C929，后者是正在开发中的一种宽体客机，它的开发由中国政府提供资金。即便是最雄心勃勃的中国政府官员或许也会承认，这仍然是个遥远的梦想，还需要几十年的时间才能实现。