????圍繞福特汽車公司（Ford）和豐田汽車公司（Toyota）建立合資企業的輿論造勢讓我想起了一句老話：大公司的新聞總是宣布的那天聽起來最美妙。

????這之后，就常常是走下坡路了。

????回想一下30年前豐田介入的另一個合資企業引發的一片喧嘩。那是與通用汽車公司（GM）、當時世界上最強大的汽車公司的合作結晶。兩大巨頭同意在加利福尼亞州弗里蒙特市的一家車廠共同生產小型汽車。該廠就是鼎鼎大名的NUUMI（New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc.，新聯合汽車制造有限公司）。

????通用汽車公司從這樁交易中沒有汲取任何教訓，所生產的車也虧得血本無歸，2009年更是面臨破產窘境。而豐田汽車公司則取而代之，成了世界上最大的汽車公司。

????謹記這一點，我們且來看看近期汽車公司的最新動態：

奧迪重磅出擊

????隨著今年秋季A6的推出，奧迪公司（Audi）新一輪的最新車型上市即告一段落。就像我去年春天寫過的，一直以來，奧迪的勢頭著實強勁。今年頭7個月，奧迪的銷量增長了16%，而它的兩大對手，梅賽德斯奔馳（Mercedes-Benz）只增長11%，寶馬（BMW）增長13%。奧迪的旗艦車型A8在一年前經重新設計后，銷量已增長8倍。

????上周我試駕了A6，它應該有能力讓奧迪以巡航速度保持高速增長。與中檔車市場的眾多對手不同，A6擁有完全屬于自己的個性。這款車既不像縮水減配的A8，也不像膨脹拉長的A4，盡管它擁有這兩者各自最好的屬性：A4的運動品性，以及A8的尊榮奢華。

????奧迪是首家在車中提供工廠安裝“熱點”（hot spot）的汽車廠商。通過在車中提供實時交通和天氣信息，以及將“谷歌地圖”（Google Earth）的地形圖作為導航系統地圖的顯示背景，A6重新定義了“互聯汽車”（connected car）這一概念。坐在后排的乘客還能用此系統將電影下載到iPad上。

????這種頗為有用的技術在豪華車營銷中回報頗豐，憑借49,900美元的基本售價（實際購入價格為61,530美元），A6應能使奧迪保持增長勢頭，甚至加速發展。

????The buildup surrounding the new joint venture between Ford and Toyota reminded me of an old adage: Big corporate events always sound best on the day they are announced.

????After that, it is often downhill.

????Recall the hullabaloo 30 years ago that accompanied another joint venture involving Toyota (TM). This one was with GM, then the most powerful auto company in the world; the two companies agreed to build small cars together at an auto plant in Fremont, Calif. that became known as NUUMI.

????GM (GM, Fortune 500) didn't learn a thing from the deal, lost money on the cars it made there, and walked away in 2009 in bankruptcy. Toyota went on to displace it as the world's largest auto company.

????With that in mind, here is an update on some more recent corporate events:

Audi fires its big guns

????With the launch this fall of the A6, Audi concludes its latest round of new model introductions. As I wrote last spring, its momentum has been impressive. For the first seven months of this year, sales have risen 16% versus 11% for Mercedes-Benz and 13% for BMW, its two main rivals. Sales of Audi's flagship, the A8, have jumped eightfold since being redesigned a year ago.

????The A6, which I drove last week, should enable Audi to remain at cruising speed. Unlike the mid-range cars of its competitors, the A6 has an identity all its own. It doesn't feel like a stripped A8 or a bloated A4, although it contains the best attributes of each: the A4's sporty character combined with the posh presence of an A8.

????Audi is the first manufacturer to offer a factory-installed hot spot in its cars, and the A6 redefines the notion of the connected car by providing it with real-time traffic and weather information along with a Google Earth view of the landscape displayed as the background to the navigation system map. A back seat passenger can use it to stream a movie onto an iPad.

????This kind of useful technology pays off big in luxury car marketing, and with a base price of $49,900 (as-tested: $61,530), the A6 should enable Audi to maintain its momentum or even accelerate.