After an uncharacteristic deceleration in 2012, the world’s largest car market is again growing at a double-digit clip, writes Tom Mitchell in Beijing.

在2012年增长罕见放缓之后，中国作为全球第一大汽车市场的增速再次达到了两位数的水平。

LMC Automotive, a consultancy, estimates that January to September sales of passenger vehicles in China increased 15 per cent to almost 12m units. That compares with expected growth of less than 8 per cent in the US for 2013, and projected year-on-year declines in Brazil, Russia, India, Germany and Japan.

市场研究咨询机构LMC Automotive估计，今年1至9月中国乘用车的销售量增长了15%，达到约1200万辆。而2013年美国市场的增幅预计不足8%，巴西、俄罗斯、印度、德国、日本市场预计将出现同比下降。

China’s four richest urban centres seem to be overwhelmed with traffic congestion² and related pollution issues.

中国最富裕的四大城市——北京、上海、广州和深圳面对严重的交通堵塞以及相关污染问题，似乎无能为力。

But Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are just at the point where car ownership traditionally begins to take off – when per capita GDP reaches $10,000. According to Synergistics, another automotive consultancy, that figure in China’s “big four” regional car markets now stands at more than $12,700.

但它们正处在汽车保有量通常将开始快速上升的拐点，即人均国内生产总值(GDP)达到1万美元。另一家汽车行业咨询公司Synergistics指出，中国四大地区性汽车市场的人均GDP现已超过了12700美元。

Moreover, manufacturers are turning their attention to the smaller cities where more than 80 per cent of the country’s 1.3bn people live and per capita GDP is only about $4,000.

另外，汽车制造商们开始将注意力转向中小城市，目前中国13亿人口中超过80%的人在中小城市居住，这些地区的人均GDP仅为约4000美元。，

“Congestion and pollution issues might have a negative effect [on growth in China’s largest cities], but [smaller cities] still have a lot of potential,” says Ray Bierzynski, executive vice-president of General Motor’s joint venture with SAIC Motor and Wuling Auto¹ in Guangxi province. “Our expansion has got to be in those areas.”

白雷蒙(Ray Bierzynski)是通用汽车(General Motor)与上汽集团(SAIC Motor)和五菱汽车(Wuling Auto)在广西省成立合资企业的执行副总裁。他表示：“交通拥堵和污染问题或对中国一线城市的汽车销售增长带来负面影响，但中小城市仍有很大潜力。我们必须在中小城市谋求增长。”

In volume terms, GM is the second most successful multinational³ car company operating in China. Its various joint ventures with SAIC, First Auto Works and Wuling sold more than 1.1m passenger vehicles over the first three quarters of this year, compared with Volkswagen’s almost 1.9m.

按销售量计算，通用汽车在进入中国市场的跨国汽车公司中排行第二。今年前三季度，通用汽车与上汽集团、一汽 (First Auto Works)以及五菱组建的多家合资企业的乘用车销售量超过了110万辆，同期大众汽车(Volkswagen)的销量约为190万辆。

Analysts⁴ attribute GM’s and VW’s success in China to aggressive localisation of production, research and development – a tactic⁵ that automakers at the luxury end of the spectrum⁶ are also adopting.

分析师将通用汽车与大众汽车在中国取得的成功，归因于积极的本地化生产和研发——这一策略也被豪华汽车生产商所采用。

Daimler formally opened an engine plant in Beijing in November – its first outside Germany – that will eventually export components⁷ to Europe.

今年11月，戴姆勒(Daimler)正式在北京开设了一家引擎生产厂——这是其在德国以外地区设立的首家引擎厂，并且最终将向欧洲出口零部件。

Yet China has yet to emerge as a significant automotive exporter as Japan and Korea did before it, especially to the US and Europe. Over the first eight months of this year, China’s vehicle exports fell three per cent over the same period in 2012 to just 500,000 units.

但中国尚未像日本和韩国那样，成为举足轻重的汽车出口国，特别是面向美国和欧洲市场的出口。今年前八个月，中国的汽车出口量相对于上年同期下降了3%，仅为50万辆。