中国本土汽车品牌难唱主角戏

That the Chinese car market has surpassed the US to become the world’s largest is a source of immense pride for the architects of China’s car boom. That the market is dominated by foreign brands is not, write Henry Foy and Tom Mitchell.

中国已经超过美国成为世界第一大汽车市场，为中国汽车繁荣的创造者带来巨大的自豪感。但中国汽车市场主要被外国品牌占据，这就不值得骄傲了。

Chinese branded cars together account for less than 40 per cent of the total market of more than 18m vehicles in China, trailing well behind market leaders such as Germany’s Volkswagen and General Motors of the US.

中国汽车年销量超过1800万辆，但中国品牌汽车仅占不到40%的份额，远远落后于德国大众(Volkswagen)和美国通用汽车(General Motors)等外国企业。

In the past, that gap was accepted because of rules that mean all foreign carmakers have to operate in China in a joint venture with a local player. Those rules were engineered to help Chinese companies get a foot up in the market by learning from their global partners, while both companies made money.

过去，人们可以接受这种差距，因为根据规定，所有在华经营的外国汽车厂商必须与本土厂商建立合资企业。这一规定旨在帮助中国企业通过向跨国合作伙伴学习，提高市场竞争力，而中外资企业都能赚到钱。

But now the gap is growing at a rate that is alarming many in China, sparking a debate about how to reshape restrictions to encourage domestic players.

但如今，差距扩大之快令许多人警醒，并引发一场辩论：如何调整限制性规则，促进国内企业发展？

At the same time, global brands that have become very rich selling cars to China’s growing middle class are considering ways to take a bigger slice of their joint ventures, and in some cases, joint-venture partners.

与此同时，跨国车企——面向中国日益壮大的中产阶层销售汽车已使它们获利丰厚——正在考虑如何提高自身在合资企业中的出资比例，在某些情况下则是持有合资伙伴的股权。

Volkswagen is considering increasing its stake in its Chinese joint venture with state-owned FAW to 50 per cent, from 40 per cent currently, chief executive Martin Winterkorn was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview last year.

大众与中国国有企业一汽(FAW)组成了合资公司。大众首席执行官文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)去年在接受报纸采访时表示，大众正考虑将其在合资企业中的持股比例从目前的40%提高到50%。

Daimler, which sells Mercedes-Benz cars in China in a joint venture with Beijing Automotive, set a precedent last year when it bought a 12 per cent stake in the Chinese carmaker for