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China’s car dealers have banded together to put pressure on global automotive brands in negotiations over subsidies and sales targets — discovering the bargaining power of a united front, as the country’s auto sector did four and half years ago.
中国汽车经销商已联合起来，在围绕补贴和销售目标的谈判中对全球汽车品牌施压——就像4年半前的中国汽车业那样，它们发现了联合起来的谈判力量。
In 2010 a series of industrial actions emboldened Chinese car workers to agitate for greater pay and benefits. Dealers are now forming their own associations to extract concessions from companies such as BMW and Volkswagen.
2010年，一连串工业行动让中国汽车工人敢于抗议，要求提高薪酬和福利待遇。现在，汽车经销商们正在组建它们自己的协会来迫使宝马(BMW)和大众(Volkswagen)等公司作出让步。
In a letter circulating online, an association representing dealers that sell imported VWs have complained of persistently high sales targets, despite slowing economic growth and intense competition. China, the largest car market, reported its lowest quarterly growth figure in more than five years in October. Car sales data today are expected to show a year-on-year increase of 8 per cent, half the 2013 figure.
在网上流传的一份信件中，代表大众进口车经销商的一个协会抱怨称，尽管经济增长放缓和竞争激烈，但大众仍坚持过高的销售目标。去年10月，全球最大的汽车市场中国发布5年多来最低的季度增长数据。预计今日发布的汽车销售数据同比增长8%，是2013年增速的一半。
“For three years we’ve been trying to reach sales goal, with no success,” the VW dealers said. “Dealers have high inventory levels, and our businesses are in difficulty.”
大众经销商们表示：“3年来我们一直在努力实现销售目标，但未能取得成功。经销商库存积压，我们的生意陷入困境。”
Carmakers routinely give China dealers rebates to compensate them for holding cars longer than expected when sales slow — or for unloading inventories at a loss to meet volume commitments. In their bid to negotiate bigger rebates and lower targets, the association of VW importers cited BMW’s agreement last week to give its dealers Rmb5.1bn ($822m) in rebates for 2014. The deal was negotiated by a BMW dealer association that had been set up in November. A similar association was set up to represent Porsche dealers.
在销售放缓时，汽车制造商通常会给予中国经销商返利，以补偿库存时间超出预期，或者亏本处理库存产品以实现销量承诺。为了要求提高返利和降低销售目标，大众进口商协会援引了宝马上周同意为其经销商提供51亿元人民币（合8.22亿美元）返利以弥补后者2014年损失的例子。该协议是由去年11月成立的宝马经销商协会谈判达成的。保时捷(Porsche)的各家经销商也成立了类似的协会。
“The BMW agreement screwed it up for everyone,” said one multinational car executive. “They just gave hope to other dealer organisations that if they rally up and start crying, other car companies might pay up too.”
一位跨国汽车企业的高管表示：“宝马的协议让大家都完蛋了。它们让其他经销商协会产生期待，以为只要它们联合起来开始抱怨，其他汽车公司也会掏钱的。”
VW said it was in “close co-operation and constant exchange” with its dealers in China — but declined to comment on the details of discussions.
大众表示，正在与“中国经销商密切合作和持续交流”，但该公司拒绝就讨论细节置评。
Yesterday VW announced that it had sold a record 3.67m cars in China last year, up 12.4 per cent from 2013. Most of the cars VW sells in China are manufactured locally in joint ventures with two state car groups, SAIC and First Auto.
昨日，大众宣布，去年在华汽车销量达到创纪录的367万辆，较2013年增长12.4%。大众在华销售的汽车大部分是与上海汽车(SAIC Motor)和一汽(First Auto Works)这两家国有车企组建的合资企业在中国本土制造的。
The dealer revolt gathered momentum in late November, ahead of crucial end-of-year discussions about rebates and sales targets. Some dealers have called for government regulation to address the imbalance of power.
经销商的抗议在去年11月下旬形成势头，当时正值就返利和销售目标展开关键的年终谈判前夕。一些经销商呼吁政府监管部门解决这种力量失衡。
“Dealers are in a very weak position because their contracts will be reviewed every year,” says Yale Zhang, an analyst with Automotive Insight. “It’s not a fair deal and should be changed.”
Automotive Insight的分析师张豫(Yale Zhang)表示：“经销商们处于非常不利的地位，因为它们的合同每年都需要评估。这不公平，应该予以改变。”
When an official from the Chinese Automobile Dealers Association revealed the terms of a dealer subsidy agreement with BMW, it sparked a sell-off of the German automaker’s shares.
当中国汽车流通协会(Chinese Automobile Dealers Association)的一位官员透露了经销商与宝马达成的补贴协议条款的时候，宝马公司的股价应声大跌。
Carmakers are reliant on the China market to bolster sales and stock prices — with demand stalling or falling Brazil, Russia and India, and growing only weakly in Europe. Tensions with China’s dealers are likely to continue growing.
汽车制造商依赖中国市场来提振销售和股价——它们在巴西、俄罗斯和印度的销售停滞甚至下降，在欧洲只能实现微幅增长。它们与中国汽车经销商的紧张关系可能会愈演愈烈。
