????通用汽車公司（General Motors）之所以一度轟然倒下，原因眾多，其中之一就是它遲遲不能在美國市場推出一款富有競爭力的小型車。然而現在，雪佛蘭克魯茲（Chevrolet Cruze）取得了驚人的銷量，表明破產后重整旗鼓的通用汽車已經今非昔比，與過去相比已經有了很大的不同。

????克魯茲可謂大獲成功。整個10月，通用售出了20萬臺克魯茲，比本田思域（Civic）、福特Fusion和現代伊蘭特（Elantra）這三款長期暢銷的小型車都多。更重要的是，克魯茲與這個領域最暢銷車型——豐田（Toyota）花冠僅有一步之遙。突然之間，這家在20世紀90年代靠生產高油耗的卡車和越野車（SUV）而變得碩大無朋的公司在汽車業競爭最激烈的領域賺了個盆滿缽滿。

????更讓人印象深刻的是，通用斬獲如此可觀的銷量不是靠大幅打折或采用那些老套的花招，比如批量銷售給短期租車公司之類。上周三，通用公布了第三財季17億美元的凈收入，期中包括北美地區支付利息、交稅和攤銷前的22億美元營業收入，與一年前相比，凈增了約1億美元（在通用的總銷售額中，緊湊型車仍然只占相對較小的份額）。

????對于這款車，評論界好評不斷、消費者口碑良好，因此，購車者紛紛涌向各家銷售點。不過事實上，迄今為止，汽車購買圣經、《消費者報告》（Consumer Reports，著名汽車雜志——譯注）還沒有給這款車以“推薦”的評級，因為它們還沒有收集到足夠多的可靠性數據。基本款克魯茲售價約17,000美元起，每加侖燃油可行駛36英里。而汽車專業網站Edmunds.com對其的評價是，通用汽車終于生產出一輛小型車，關門的時候能發出“砰”的一聲沉實有力的聲音。

????據Edmunds.com稱，目前，克魯茲在經銷商處的存貨到月底時已降至每天限供25臺。這么少的數量表明，通用汽車在俄亥俄州洛茲敦的裝配廠正開足馬力滿足零售需求。經濟金融分析機構“環球透視”（IHS Global Insight）公司的分析師亞倫?布萊格曼稱：“汽車業幾乎沒有什么問題不能用出色的產品來解決。人們似乎喜歡克魯茲。它省油，內飾也比多數人所料想的通用汽車要好。”

????僅僅是幾年前，還幾乎很難想象通用汽車能推出這么一款重磅的產品。此前通用也推出過緊湊型小車，比如雪佛蘭的Cobalt和Cavalier。但在通用的戰略規劃人員看來，通用的主業是銷售更大型、更賺錢的車型，這些緊湊車型則有些偏離了主業，讓人惱火。由于美國是基于所有車型經過加權后的銷售額計算公司平均燃油經濟性的，因此通用之所以推出小型車，主要是為了遵守聯邦法律。通用在小型車上無所作為，從亞洲進口的省油小車和來自歐洲的時尚小車卻將市場份額瓜分殆盡。

????不過，要保持克魯茲的熱銷勢頭并非易事。上周，本田汽車美國銷售中心總監約翰?孟德爾稱，本田公司很快就會推出“煥然一新”的全新款思域。眾多評論人士已經紛紛拍下了它的靚照（記憶中，《消費者報告》是首次沒有推薦新款思域）。本田是小型車領域的領跑者之一，通用能把它甩在身后著實推動了克魯茲這款小車銷售的突飛猛進。而消費者對于售價4萬美元的雪佛蘭Volt，即“延程型電動汽車”的興趣也有助于克魯茲的熱銷。與這款車相比，克魯茲尺寸相同，價格則實惠得多。

????通用今后的制勝訣竅將是，每款新車型上市都能讓消費者源源不斷地涌向雪佛蘭的經銷商處。為了強化品牌，通用的首席營銷官約爾?伊瓦尼克抓緊發動了雪佛蘭的廣告攻勢。所推出的品牌口號“雪佛蘭馳騁至深”（Chevy Runs Deep）似乎在美國贏得了一些反響，今年在美總銷量比2010年增加14.4%。

????通用接下來將如何出牌？推出雪佛蘭Sonic——對通用汽車生產熱銷小型車的能力來說，這將是另一個重大考驗。這款車比克魯茲還要小，將是一款超小型車。從未有哪家汽車廠商曾試圖用這種車型撬開美國市場。如果通用能讓這款車和克魯茲一樣大獲成功，那它對驅散曾經敗走麥城的回憶將功莫大焉。

????譯者：清遠

????Among the many reasons for the collapse of the old General Motors was its chronic inability to field a competitive small car in the U.S. Now, stunning sales of its Chevrolet Cruze show that post-bankruptcy GM is a very different company than it once was.

????The Cruze has been wildly successful. Through October, GM (GM, Fortune 500) sold over 200,000 units, more than the Honda (HMC) Civic, Ford Fusion and Hyundai Elantra -- three popular small cars with long track records. What's more, the Cruze is within striking distance of the segment's top seller, Toyota's (TM) Corolla. Suddenly, the company that grew fat in the 1990s on gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs is cleaning up in one of the auto industry's most competitive sectors.

????Even more impressive, GM accomplished such robust sales without deep discounts or shopworn gimmicks like volume sales to daily rental fleets. On Wednesday, GM posted net income of $1.7 billion for the third quarter, which included $2.2 billion of earnings before interest, tax and amortization in North America, an improvement of about $100 million from a year ago. (Compacts still make up a relatively minor percentage of the vehicles the company sells overall.)

????Car buyers have been flocking to dealerships based on strong reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations, despite the fact that the car buying bible, Consumer Reports, has so far withheld its "recommended" rating because it hasn't gathered sufficient reliability data. A basic Cruze, which starts around $17,000, gets up to 36 miles per gallon. Edmunds.com, the automotive website notes, finally GM has manufactured a small car whose doors close with a solid "thunk."

????Dealer inventory of the Cruze at month's end had fallen to a 25-day supply, according to Edmunds.com, a low number suggesting that GM's Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant is straining to keep up with retail demand. "There are very few problems in this industry that can't be solved with good product," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst for IHS Global Insight. "People seem to like the Cruze. It has good fuel economy and a better interior than many had expected from a GM car."

????A hit like this at GM was almost unthinkable just a few years ago. Compacts that came before, like the Chevrolet Cobalt and Cavalier were, regarded by GM strategists as little more than annoying diversions from the business of selling larger, more profitable vehicles. Because the U.S. calculates corporate average fuel economy on the basis of sales weighting of all models, the smaller GM vehicles were needed mostly to comply with federal law. Thrifty Asian imports and tony European models mopped up sales, while GM's efforts languished.

????Maintaining the Cruze's sales momentum won't be easy, though. John Mendel, head of Honda's U.S. sales operations, said last week that the Japanese automaker already is rushing a "refresh" of its new Civic, which was widely panned by reviewers. (Consumer Reports failed to recommend the new Civic for the first time in memory.) Having one of the segments front-runners effectively demoted has certainly helped the little Chevy surge ahead. Interest in the $40,000 Chevrolet Volt, an "extended-range electric," also helped to sell Cruzes, which are the same size and a lot less pricey.

????The trick for GM will be to keep customers flowing to Chevrolet dealerships for each new model introduction. Joel Ewanick, GM's chief marketing officer, has tinkered with Chevy advertisements in an effort to strengthen the brand. The tagline "Chevy Runs Deep" seems to be getting some buzz in the U.S., where the brand overall is 14.4% ahead of 2010 in sales.

????Next up? The Chevrolet Sonic -- and another crucial test of GM's capacity to make popular little vehicles. Even smaller than the Cruze, that model will be a subcompact, a segment few automakers of any kind have managed to crack in the U.S. If the company scores another Cruze-sized hit, it would go a long way toward erasing memories of the old GM's failures.