????今夏早些時(shí)候，年銷量只有幾千輛，但單品價(jià)格高達(dá)幾十萬(wàn)美元的意大利超級(jí)跑車品牌蘭博基尼宣布將推出一款運(yùn)動(dòng)型多用途車。這款看上去棱角分明的概念車叫做Urus，曾于2012年在北京首次亮相。它的外形擁有蘭博基尼汽車固有的花花公子風(fēng)格：銳利的線條、加寬的輪圈、賽車的美感。其規(guī)格讓一眾博客大為驚嘆：它擁有600馬力引擎，盡管車高不夠突出（還不到6英尺），離地凈高卻相當(dāng)可觀。

????在20世紀(jì)80年代，蘭博基尼曾經(jīng)嘗試過(guò)推出一款流行的SUV，即類似于悍馬的LM002，不過(guò)最終失敗了。這一次蘭博基尼卷土重來(lái)，顯得信心滿滿。

????公司表示，SUV的銷量將會(huì)促使蘭博基尼的銷量在一夜之間翻番，達(dá)到一年6000輛，并讓這家以品種單調(diào)著稱的公司變得多元化。他們認(rèn)為：那些擁有蘭博基尼超級(jí)跑車，可能會(huì)在需要更多空間時(shí)駕駛其他公司豪華SUV的客戶，現(xiàn)在可以把SUV升級(jí)成為擁有同樣意大利風(fēng)格的蘭博基尼產(chǎn)品。

????2018年開(kāi)售后，大量Urus可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)在曼哈頓、洛杉磯或莫斯科的街頭。不過(guò)，這款SUV最大的潛在市場(chǎng)還是中國(guó)。中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的鑒賞力正在以前所未有的方式推動(dòng)，甚至影響奢侈品制造商的決策，汽車制造商更是首當(dāng)其沖。

????寄望中國(guó)推動(dòng)業(yè)績(jī)?cè)鲩L(zhǎng)

????盡管中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)已經(jīng)開(kāi)始放緩，但透過(guò)這款蘭博基尼SUV，我們有機(jī)會(huì)一窺那些依賴中國(guó)提升業(yè)績(jī)的行業(yè)的真實(shí)狀況。唱衰中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)的人沒(méi)有注意到的是，中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的支出正在提高，這就是為什么出現(xiàn)在報(bào)刊頭條的中國(guó)GDP增長(zhǎng)速度其實(shí)并沒(méi)有表面上那么糟。例如，中國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，今年上半年消費(fèi)者服務(wù)行業(yè)增長(zhǎng)了近8.5%，而工業(yè)產(chǎn)值只增長(zhǎng)了6.1%。如今，服務(wù)業(yè)占中國(guó)50%的GDP，雖然低于美國(guó)的80%，卻仍有增長(zhǎng)之勢(shì)。中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的購(gòu)買力正在變得更加強(qiáng)勁。

????正是出于這一背景，跨國(guó)公司紛紛開(kāi)始迎合中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的品味，從電子產(chǎn)品（蘋果公司首席執(zhí)行官蒂姆?庫(kù)克承認(rèn)，中國(guó)是蘋果推出金色款iPhone和金色款蘋果手表的重要原因 ）到食品（可口可樂(lè)在中國(guó)推出的美汁源果粒橙迅速引起轟動(dòng)，可能將走出中國(guó)市場(chǎng)），再到汽車，不一而足。

????蘭博基尼表示，該公司推出這款SUV的原因很簡(jiǎn)單，那就是SUV目前太火爆了。該公司首席執(zhí)行官史蒂芬?溫克爾曼在本月接受汽車新聞網(wǎng)站Autoblog采訪時(shí)表示：“在全球范圍內(nèi)，SUV領(lǐng)域仍在快速發(fā)展。”

????現(xiàn)在提問(wèn)：全球最大的汽車市場(chǎng)是哪里？答案是中國(guó)。那么中國(guó)發(fā)展最快的汽車領(lǐng)域是什么？答案是SUV。

????所以溫克爾曼可以更直接地說(shuō)：“中國(guó)是我們繼美國(guó)之后的第二大市場(chǎng)，他們愛(ài)上了SUV，我們不敢錯(cuò)失這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。”

????中國(guó)喜愛(ài)SUV及其代表的一切——馬路上的崇高地位，掌控力量的感覺(jué)，駛出城市、爬上山坡的無(wú)拘無(wú)束。在今年第一季度，中國(guó)幾乎一半的新上牌車輛都是SUV。中國(guó)如今是全球最大的SUV市場(chǎng)。中國(guó)汽車工業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，去年全國(guó)的SUV銷量增長(zhǎng)近30%，而轎車銷量只增長(zhǎng)了約10%。有趣的是，也有傳聞稱，豪華SUV不如豪華轎車那樣招搖——中國(guó)政府轟轟烈烈的反腐運(yùn)動(dòng)也給SUV營(yíng)造了發(fā)展良機(jī)。

????保時(shí)捷就是這種新思維的典范。在北京和上海的富有社區(qū)，保時(shí)捷卡宴隨處可見(jiàn)。去年，保時(shí)捷卡宴在華銷量幾乎占其總銷量的三分之一，中國(guó)輕松地成為這款豪華SUV的最大市場(chǎng)。卡宴的熱銷也推動(dòng)保時(shí)捷在中國(guó)的整體銷量提升了25%。2010年至今，保時(shí)捷在中國(guó)的銷量增至三倍，去年中國(guó)的整體銷量只比美國(guó)少了不到100輛。

????在中國(guó)，保時(shí)捷卡宴的銷售取得了巨大的成功。不過(guò)隨著中國(guó)富豪數(shù)不斷增長(zhǎng)，中國(guó)政府持續(xù)推進(jìn)針對(duì)炫耀性消費(fèi)的反腐運(yùn)動(dòng)，保時(shí)捷推出了另一種更廉價(jià)的選擇。2014年，保時(shí)捷推出了Macan SUV，裝備了可供選擇的四缸發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)，這是保時(shí)捷20年來(lái)第一次這么做。Macan在中國(guó)的售價(jià)幾乎只有卡宴的一半，部分原因是降低了汽車排量的稅費(fèi)。研究機(jī)構(gòu)IHS表示，Macan上市不到一年就在中國(guó)賣出了9374輛，超過(guò)了其他任何國(guó)家。IHS還預(yù)計(jì)該款車型在2015年的銷量會(huì)增至三倍，達(dá)到2.9376萬(wàn)輛。

????保時(shí)捷并非唯一調(diào)整產(chǎn)品線以符合中國(guó)需求的汽車制造商。寶馬和梅賽德斯-奔馳也紛紛推出更小款式的SUV。與此同時(shí)，重新設(shè)計(jì)船型林肯大陸SUV時(shí)，福特一心想的是中國(guó)市場(chǎng)。在今年接受《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》采訪時(shí)，一位福特副總裁表示：“這不是為美國(guó)市場(chǎng)開(kāi)發(fā)的車型，我們會(huì)看看它在中國(guó)的表現(xiàn)。汽車的后排座椅設(shè)計(jì)優(yōu)先考慮了中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的需求。”

????到目前為止，福特這種明確為中國(guó)設(shè)計(jì)車型的行為只是個(gè)別案例，還談不上行業(yè)潮流。香港汽車咨詢公司Dunne Automotive的首席執(zhí)行官邁克爾?鄧恩在郵件中表示：“蘭博基尼和其他汽車制造商正在討好中國(guó)消費(fèi)者，但仍然緊緊遵循著自身的傳統(tǒng)和品牌特色。”

????不過(guò)已經(jīng)有證據(jù)證實(shí)，蘭博基尼這樣的汽車制造商在決策時(shí)會(huì)充分考慮中國(guó)因素。

????蘭博基尼和保時(shí)捷一樣，都由大眾汽車集團(tuán)所有。該集團(tuán)是毛澤東逝世，中國(guó)改革開(kāi)放以后第一家進(jìn)入中國(guó)的汽車制造商。如今，中國(guó)是這家公司的最大市場(chǎng)，他們有適合所有消費(fèi)者的品牌：奧迪（政府官員喜愛(ài)的車型）、斯柯達(dá)（普通百姓品牌）、大眾（普通百姓的升級(jí)品牌）、保時(shí)捷（新貴人群）、蘭博基尼（年輕奔放的有錢人）和賓利（富豪人群）。

????這樣的品牌廣度讓大眾汽車獲得了規(guī)模經(jīng)濟(jì)效益，大眾正在開(kāi)發(fā)新的蘭博基尼和賓利SUV，架構(gòu)類似于新的保時(shí)捷卡宴。IHS Automotive上海辦公室的高級(jí)顧問(wèn)薩博尼表示：“小投資卻能帶來(lái)大收益——這也許是大眾集團(tuán)推出蘭博基尼SUV帶來(lái)的最大影響。我們確實(shí)認(rèn)為這款SUV會(huì)推動(dòng)蘭博基尼在中國(guó)的銷量。”

????蘭博基尼發(fā)言人劉娜（音譯）表示：“顯然，新車會(huì)利用大眾集團(tuán)提供的協(xié)同效應(yīng)。然而它會(huì)是擁有我們品牌傳統(tǒng)的真正的蘭博基尼車型。”以下事實(shí)證明了她的觀點(diǎn)：蘭博基尼、保時(shí)捷和賓利的SUV都會(huì)在歐洲本地工廠生產(chǎn)——這對(duì)中國(guó)消費(fèi)者來(lái)說(shuō)，也是榮譽(yù)感的一部分。

????許多人指出，蘭博基尼幾年前選擇在北京發(fā)布這款SUV的概念車型絕非巧合。Urus理應(yīng)在全球最火爆的SUV市場(chǎng)揭開(kāi)面紗。

????接下來(lái)唯一的問(wèn)題就是中國(guó)消費(fèi)者是否會(huì)喜歡它了。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

????審校：任文科

????Earlier this summer, Lamborghini, the Italian supercar brand that counts annual car sales in the thousands but price tags in the hundreds of thousands, announced it was building a sport utility vehicle. The angular-looking concept version called Urus, unveiled for the first time in Beijing in 2012, had the same built-for-playboys appearance as Lamborghini’s cars: sharp lines, wide rims, race-car aesthetics. Blogs marveled at the specs: it houses a 600-horsepower engine and sports ample ground clearance despite its relatively modest height (just shy of six feet).

????Lamborghini already tried and failed once to market a popular SUV in the 1980s, with what became the Hummer-like LM002. This time Lamborghini is more confident.

????It says SUV sales will double total Lamborghini sales practically overnight, to 6,000 vehicles a year, and diversify a famously un-diverse company. The idea: Customers who own its supercars, but drive another company’s luxury SUV when they need more space beyond a tiny front-trunk, would upgrade to a Lambo SUV with the same Italian styling.

????After Lamborghini starts selling the Urus in 2018, many may pop up in Manhattan or Los Angeles. Probably many in Moscow, too. But the biggest potential market for the SUV is located in China, where Chinese tastes are boosting and even influencing luxury goods makers more than ever, and automakers most of all.

????Looking to China for growth

????Lamborghini’s SUV provides a window into what’s happening at several industries relying on China for growth even as its economy slows. Lost amid the talk about China’s sputtering economic engine is that the rise in consumer spending is a big reason why the headline GDP growth figures aren’t worse than they are. In the first half of the year, for instance, consumer services grew almost 8.5%, while industrial output lagged behind at 6.1% growth, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Services are now 50% of GDP, trailing the U.S.’s 80% figure, but still growing. Chinese consumers are ever more powerful.

????Multinationals, in turn, play to Chinese tastes in everything from electronics (the Chinese were a big reason for gold iPhones and

gold Apple watches, Apple CEO Tim Cook has said) to food (Coke’s Chinese hit, a milky orange drink, may expand abroad) to cars.

????Lamborghini said it is offering an SUV because SUVs are a hot seller in general. “The SUV segment is still fast growing worldwide,” Lamborghini’s CEO Stephan Winkelmann told Autoblog this month.

????Now ask: What’s the world’s largest automotive market? The answer is China. And what’s the fastest growing auto segment in China? SUVs.

????So Winkelmann could have said, more directly, ‘China, our second biggest market after the U.S., is falling in love with SUVs and we don’t dare miss that.’

????China loves SUVs and all they stand for—elevated status on the road, a sense of power, the freedom to take a hard right out of city traffic and scale the nearest mountain. In the first quarter almost half of new vehicle registrations in China were for SUVs. China is now the largest SUV market in the world. SUV sales rose more than 30% in the country last year while passenger cars sales climbed only around 10%, says China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Anecdotally, you also hear that luxury SUVs are less ostentatious than luxury sedans—good at a time when there’s an anti-corruption movement underway in the central government.

????Porsche is the exemplar of this new automotive thinking. In the wealthy areas of Beijing and Shanghai, Porsche Cayenne SUVs appear to be parked on every corner. Last year Porsche shipped almost one-third its total Cayenne production to China, easily the SUV’s largest market, helping Porsche’s overall China sales increase by 25%. Since 2010, Porsche has almost tripled its sales in China, where its sales trailed the U.S. last year by fewer than 100 vehicles.

????Porsche has had remarkable success selling the large Cayenne there. But as the numbers of China’s rich expand and the country’s anti-corruption campaign continues targeting conspicuous consumption, Porsche has offered another, cheaper option. The Macan SUV was released in 2014, equipped with an optional four-cylinder engine, Porsche’s first in two decades, and sold for almost 50% less than the Cayenne in China partly because of reduced taxes on engine size. The Macan sold more vehicles in China— 9,374— than any other country in its abbreviated first year, says researcher IHS, which estimates China sales of the model to triple to 29,376 in 2015.

????Porsche isn’t the only automaker changing its lineup in ways that align with Chinese demand. BMW and Mercedes Benz have also offered smaller versions of their SUVs. Ford, meanwhile, is re-introducing the boat-sized Lincoln Continental with China squarely in mind. “This is not a vehicle we developed for the U.S. and then said, ‘We will see how it does in China,'” a Ford group vice president told the Los Angeles Times this year. “The rear seat was designed for the Chinese customer first and foremost.”

????For now, Ford designing explicitly for China remains the exception, not the rule. “Lamborghini and others are building for Chinese buyers but keeping tightly faithful to their original heritage and brand cues,” Michael Dunne, CEO of Hong Kong-based auto consultant Dunne Automotive, wrote in an email.

????But there’s evidence automakers like Lamborghini are making decisions with China close in mind.

????Lamborghini, like Porsche, is ultimately owned by Volkswagen Group, which was the first automaker to break into China as the country opened to world following Mao Zedong’s death. Today China is the German company’s largest market, and VW has brands for everyone: Audi (government officials’ preferred cars), Skoda (ordinary folks), VW (ordinary folks’ upgraded ride), Porsche (nouveau riche), Lamborghini (young, rich, wild), and Bentley (just rich).

????That breadth gives Volkswagen economies of scale, and the company is developing new Lamborghini and Bentley SUVs on the same architecture as the next Porsche Cayenne. “Small investment but big profit return—that maybe the biggest influence for VW group to roll out” Lamborghini’s SUV, says Boni Sa, senior consultant at IHS Automotive in Shanghai. “We do expect the Lamborghini SUV to incentive the sales of Lambo in China.”

????“Of course the new car will make use of the synergies the Volkswagen Group offers,” says Lamborghini spokeswoman Liu Na. “Nevertheless it will be a true Lamborghini in line with our brand DNA.” Bolstering her point: Lamborghini, Porsche, and Bentley’s SUVs will be built at home in European factories—which, for Chinese consumers, is a big part of the prestige of buying one.

????Many have pointed out that Lamborghini picking Beijing to unveil the concept version of its SUV several years ago was no accident. The Urus should be released in the world’s hottest market for SUVs.

????Now the only question is if Chinese buyers will like it.