????對于豪車品牌來說，更值得擔心的是隨著他們的車型價格的下探，他們長期以來建立的聲譽是否會受到影響。歷史證明豪車賤賣也有失敗的例子。記性好的人可能還記得上世紀80年代通用汽車曾試圖把雪佛蘭Cavalier改成一款叫做凱迪拉克西馬倫（Cimarron）的車型；另外在本世紀頭10年，奔馳也推出了一輛差強人意的C230機械增壓掀背車。雷克薩斯的老板馬克?湯普林警告道，30,000美元是高端品牌的紅線。他對《汽車新聞》表示：“以雷克薩斯的質量、耐久性、可靠性、工藝品質和配置，不可能賣到3萬美元以下還有利潤。根本做不到。”

????然而有風險就有回報。大膽的嘗試也給高端品牌帶來了高銷量和高利潤。比如奔馳的前驅緊湊型轎車CLA的起價只有29,900美元，但從年初到現在，它的銷量已經達到12,954臺。我試駕過的那輛CLA具有非常復雜的設計，內飾的感覺也很相稱。奧迪則將它的精華功能重新布局在A3里，它的建議零售價也只有30,975美元，但并沒有犧牲多少該品牌一貫的質量。

????低價車型很難實現高端廠商以往那種豐厚的利潤。寶馬的利潤目標是8%到10%，但對于寶馬1系、2系等低利潤車型來說，要實現這樣的利潤是有壓力的。但目前，1系、2系的銷量已經從寶馬公司全系車型銷量的25%到30%上升到了現在的40%。

????戴姆勒（Daimler）CEO迪特爾?柴奇希望推動梅塞德斯-奔馳成為業內利潤率最高的豪車品牌，也就是達到10%的利潤目標。但是光靠銷售3萬美元的CLA恐怕是很難實現這個目標的。據汽車網站Edmunds.com指出，10年前，梅塞德斯-奔馳的交易價格要比行業平均水平高出93%。到了2013年，這個數字已經下降到75%。

????也不是每個高端品牌都參與了大擴張。本田（Honda）旗下一向表現平平的高端品牌謳歌似乎永遠都在轉型。雖然一開始也被設計成高端品牌，但是謳歌這種“低調的奢華”一直沒有什么市場。日產的英菲尼迪也仍然缺乏強烈的認同和聲譽。今年年初，英菲尼迪又遭受了一次重大損失——被外界寄予厚望的領導人約翰?德?尼琛跳槽到了凱迪拉克。

????尼琛在凱迪拉克的第一個任務，就是如何提高緊湊車ATS和全尺寸轎車XTS的銷量，因為這兩款車的表現都比較令人失望，電動車型ELR的銷量幾乎更是可以忽略不計。等他在底特律待了一陣之后，他說不定會希望能回到德國，畢竟在那里，他會更接近豪車業務的中心。（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????More worrisome for luxury manufacturers is the damage that could be done to long-established reputations as they move down the price ladder. History provides some lessons in how not to succeed. Those with long memories will recall GM’s efforts to turn a Chevrolet Cavalier into the Cadillac Cimarron in the 1980s or Mercedes’ half-hearted C230 Kompressor hatchback from the early aughts. Lexus boss Mark Templin warns that a $30,000 price may be the cut off. “You can’t build a Lexus with the quality, the durability, the reliability, the craftsmanship, the content that we put in a Lexus and sell it profitably under $30,000,” he tells Automotive News. “You just can’t do it.

????But where there is risk, there can be reward, and aggressive behavior has been paying off where it counts: higher sales and richer profits. Mercedes has been selling a front-wheel drive compact sedan, the CLA, for the better part of a year with a starting price of $29,900 and has moved 12,954 units in calendar 2014. The CLA I drove had a surprisingly sophisticated design and a smartly fitted interior. Likewise, Audi has managed to reinterpret its best features in the A3, which carries a MSRP of $30,975, without sacrificing too many of the brand’s traditional qualities.

????Lower-price cars make it difficult to achieve the lush profits upscale makers are used to. BMW has margin targets of 8-10%, but that will be under pressure as the proportion of smaller, lower-margin cars like the 1- and 2-series rises to more than 40 percent of the group’s overall vehicle sales from 25-30 percent currently.

????Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche is pushing for Mercedes to become the most profitable luxury-auto producer with a 10% margin goal, but he will have a hard time doing so by selling $30,000 CLA’s. A decade ago, Mercedes Benz transaction prices were 93% higher than the industry average. In 2013, that number went down to 75%, according to Edmunds.com.

????Not every manufacturer is sharing in the swelling of the luxury brand market. Honda’s traditionally under-performing Acura seems to be in perpetual transition. Originally designed as a step-up brand, it has never been able to market its interpretation of frugal luxury. Nissan’s Infiniti, meanwhile, still lacks a strong identity and established reputation. It suffered a big loss earlier this year when its highly regarded leader Johan de Nysschen, who had been recruited from Audi, defected to equally-needy Cadillac.

????De Nysschen’s first task will be propping up sales of the compact ATS and fullsize XTS, both of which have been disappointing, and the electric ELR, whose sales have been invisible. After he has been in Detroit for awhile, he may wish he is back in Germany, where he would be closer to heart of the luxury car business.