北京国际车展(Beijing Auto Show)于上周五开幕。在靠近展览入口的地方，放着一辆1958年“红旗”豪华轿车的复制品。该款车由中国一汽(First Auto Works)生产，因为毛泽东坚持要求中国有自己的豪华车品牌。52年后的今天，这位共产党领袖的梦想终于得到实现，但实现方式却是他从未想象到的。
本届车展将一直持续至本周末。车展的每一处都可以显示出，中国汽车制造商正以各种方式努力攀爬“豪华阶梯”，试图进入此前由奥迪(Audi)和梅德赛斯(Mercedes)等公司主宰的豪华车领域。最引人注目的例子，当然要数中国民营汽车制造商吉利(Geely)最近以18亿美元收购瑞典沃尔沃(Volvo)。北京汽车工业控股公司(BAIC)最近也向通用汽车(GM)购买了萨博(Saab)技术。
但中国原始设备制造商不仅仅在从海外购买豪华车型，他们也在国内创设自己的豪华车品牌。北京车展上，几乎每家中国汽车企业都展出了多款自有品牌产品，从最微小的城市轻型车，到运动型多功能车(SUV)。运动型多功能车在西方市场失去消费者青睐之际，偏偏在中国开始流行。
中国甚至正在重新生产伦敦标志性的黑色出租车，生产商是吉利的一家合资公司。该集团于上周五展示了一款概念型的出租车，其前排座椅可以折叠，方便后排乘客伸腿。
英国锰铜控股公司(Manganese Bronze)首席执行官约翰•罗素(John Russell)表示：“中国人被指一味仿制其他人的设计，但这款车展现了他们的创造力和天赋。”该公司正与吉利合作生产伦敦出租车。
讽刺的是，就在中国汽车制造商努力迈向豪华车市场之际，外国汽车制造商却在向价值链低端延伸，生产吸引中国广大首次购车者的更小、更便宜的车型。
而且，不管是低端车还是高端车，外国汽车制造商均在中国投入自己的一切资源：最好的技术、最好的设计，使出浑身解数，在当今全球最大的汽车市场争取消费者。
他们称其为“C”元素：吸引中国消费者的设计特色，这包括很多内容，从倾斜的车头灯、额外的铬合金，到配备司机的轿车的额外伸腿空间。
北京汽车咨询公司Synergistics的比尔•拉索(Bill Russo)表示：“大众(VW)（在车展上）用了整个展区。我从未听说有哪家公司这么做过。”拉索曾是克莱斯勒(Chrysler)的中国区总裁。众多新款车型在此次车展（而非底特律或日内瓦）上全球首次亮相。通用汽车中国公司总经理甘文维(Kevin Wale)表示：“如今唯一真正的全球车展是在中国。”
这仍然是一个有着鲜明中国特色的车展：很难想象如此低的开领或如此高的裙衩出现在任何其它车展上。但大众集团中国区设计总监罗西蒙(Simon Loasby)表示，这也是一个充满某种乐观与激情元素的车展，而这在西方几十年前就不再流行。
吉利负责人李书福在车展上告诉英国《金融时报》，在技术质量上，中国汽车制造商至少比西方落后十年。但没有人怀疑，他们正在快速追赶。
译者/何黎
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001032358
Near the entrance of the Beijing Auto Show, which opened on Friday, stands a replica of the 1958 “Red Flag” limousine, built by China's First Auto Works because Mao Zedong insisted that China needed its own luxury brand. Now, 52 years later, the Communist leader's dream is finally being fulfilled – in ways he could never have imagined.
Everywhere in the show, which runs through next week, is evidence of the ways in which Chinese carmakers are trying to climb the ladder of luxury up to the premium levels previously dominated by companies like Audi and Mercedes. The most striking example of this, of course, was the recent purchase of Volvo of Sweden by Geely, the private Chinese carmaker, for $1.8bn. Beijing Automotive (BAIC) also recently bought Saab technology from GM.
But the Chinese original equipment manufacturers are not just buying in their premium models from overseas, they are also creating luxury at home. Virtually every Chinese company at the show is showing a wide range of own-branded products, from the tiniest urban runabout to sport utility vehicles that are catching on in China at exactly the moment they have fallen out of favour in the west.
China is even remaking the iconic London black cab, which is now made in a joint venture with Geely. The Chinese group on Friday displayed a concept taxi, complete with front rumble seat that folds away to allow back seat passengers to stretch their legs.
“The Chinese get accused of just copying other people's designs, but this demonstrates their creativity and flair,” says John Russell, chief executive of Manganese Bronze, which makes London taxis with Geely.
Ironically, at exactly the same moment the Chinese carmakers are trying to go upmarket, the foreign carmakers are reaching down the chain to the smaller, cheaper cars that appeal to China's mass of first-time car buyers.
And from the bottom of the range to the top, foreign car companies are throwing all they have at China: the best technology, the best designs, whatever it takes to woo customers in what is now the world's largest car market.
They call it the “C” factor: design features that appeal to Chinese consumers. This means everything from slanting headlamps and extra chrome, to extra leg-room for chauffeur-driven vehicles.
“VW has taken an entire pavilion [at the show]. I have never heard of anyone doing that before,” says Bill Russo of Synergistics, a Beijing auto consultancy, and a former head of Chrysler in China. Numerous global debuts took place at the show – rather than at Detroit or Geneva. “The only true global car shows these days are in China,” says Kevin Wale, head of GM in China.
This is still a car show with decidedly Chinese characteristics: it is hard to imagine such low necklines or high skirt slits at any other show. But it also a show infused with a kind of optimism and passion that went out of fashion in the west decades ago, says Simon Loasby, head of design for Volkswagen in China.
Li Shufu, head of Geely, told the Financial Times at the show that Chinese carmakers are at least a decade behind the west in the quality of their technology. But no one is doubting that they are catching up fast.
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