《经济学人》双语：汽车行业遇到了什么瓶颈？

《经济学人》双语：汽车行业遇到了什么瓶颈？

文/Irene-自由英语之路

【本篇内容简述】

【Para1&2】引入：日本福岛核电站附近唯一一家生产重要颜料的工厂突然关闭，新冠影响，零件受限，半导体的短缺，汽车制造商受影响，有的汽车制造商关闭，有的削减产量。

【Para3&4】例子和分析：福特，捷豹，路虎，菲亚特，标致雪铁龙，通用汽车等汽车公司销量，利润下降。汽车制造商预计销售疲软，短缺仍然可能会在2022年影响产量。汽车公司在半导体行业排名很低。

【Para5】供应商，芯片，汽车公司的关系：汽车公司将技术外包给供应商，供应商，供应商从在芯片公司买半导体。这使得芯片公司和汽车公司保持了一定的距离。

【Para6&7】应对办法：汽车公司制造芯片少的汽车，利用稀缺资源制造利润最高的车型。或者想其他创新其他方式。例如特斯拉通过销售软件来提高利润。其他汽车公司应该向向特斯拉学习，软件和硬件必须都会自己生产。

【Para8】结尾与评论：大众希望与芯片制造商建立更密切的关系。大型供应商担心自己丢掉机会，也在努力生产芯片。最后一句话，随着该行业准备迎接一个更加电气化和电子化的未来，它很难将自己的命运交给别人。

标题：

Carmakers and semiconductors

Pinned by chips

Carmakers are rethinking supply chains for the electric era

汽车制造商和半导体

被芯片牵制

汽车制造商正在重新思考电动时代的供应链

原文日期：2021年8月7日

Paragraph 1：

THE SUDDEN unavailability a decade ago of cars in “tuxedo black”, “rugged brown” or “royal red” highlighted the vulnerability of the industry’s global supply chain.

十年前，突然出现了“黑色燕尾服”、“粗糙棕色”或“皇家红”的汽车，凸显了该行业全球供应链的脆弱性。

The abrupt closure of the only factory making a vital pigment because of its proximity to the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan affected most of the world’s big carmakers.

日本福岛核电站附近唯一一家生产重要颜料的工厂突然关闭，影响了世界上大多数大型汽车制造商。

A side-effect of a global pandemic has denied carmakers a more vital component.

全球新冠的负面影响使汽车制造商失去了更重要的零件。

Paragraph 2:

A shortage of semiconductors has left car firms unable to install the electronics that control entertainment systems, safety features and driving aids.

半导体的短缺使得汽车公司无法安装控制娱乐系统、安全功能和驾驶辅助设备的电子设备。

Many have cut assembly-line shifts. Some have temporarily closed factories.

许多人已经削减了装配线班次。一些公司暂时关闭了工厂。

Ferdinand Dudenhffer of the Center Automotive Research, a German think-tank, reckons the bottlenecks will dent forecast worldwide production in 2021 by 5.2m cars, to 74.8m.

德国智库汽车研究中心的费迪南德·杜德恩费尔认为，这些瓶颈将使2021年全球汽车产量预测下降520万～7480万辆。

Paragraph 3:

Ford’s net profit fell by half in the second quarter, year on year, mainly owing to the chip crunch. Jaguar Land Rover expects sales in the three months to September to be 50% lower than planned.

福特第二季度净利润同比下降一半，主要原因是芯片短缺。捷豹路虎预计，在截至9月的三个月内，销量将比计划低50%。

On August 3rd Stellantis, created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA, which owns Peugeot and Citron, said it would make 1.4m fewer cars in 2021 than expected. (A big Stellantis shareholder is a part-owner of The Economist’s parent company.)

8月3日，由菲亚特-克莱斯勒和拥有标致和雪铁龙的标致雪铁龙合并而成的Stellantis表示，2021年将比预期少生产140万辆汽车(Stellantis的一位大股东是《经济学人》母公司的合伙人。）

The next day General Motors warned the chip crunch will weigh on results in coming quarters. Though car bosses agree the worst is over, shortages are likely to dent output in 2022.

第二天，通用汽车警告称，芯片短缺将影响未来几个季度的业绩。尽管汽车老板们都认为最糟糕的情况已经过去，但短缺仍然可能会在2022年影响产量。

Paragraph 4:

Expecting weak sales, in 2020 carmakerspared back orders of electronics, and then underestimated the rapidity of recovery this year.

2020年，汽车制造商预计销售疲软，削减了电子器件订单，不看好今年复苏的速度。

When the pandemic boosted demand from makers of electronic devices for those locked down at home, car firms found themselves low in the semiconductor pecking order: although they spent $40bn or so on chips in 2019, that accounted for only a tenth of global demand.

当新冠提振了那些被困在家中的人对电子产品需求时，汽车公司发现自己在半导体行业排名很低：尽管2019年他们在芯片上花费了400亿美元左右，但这只占全球需求的十分之一。

Paragraph 5:

Established car firms also long ago outsourced development of most technology, including electronic subunits, to big suppliers.

老牌汽车公司很久以前也将包括电子子系统在内的大多数技术的开发外包给大供应商。

These “tier 1” suppliers, such as Germany’sBosch or Denso of Japan, buy circuit boards and microcontrollers to make components from suppliers in the next tier down, which in turn buy semiconductors from chipmakers.

这些“一级”供应商，如德国的博世或日本的电装，从下一级供应商处购买电路板和微控制器来制造组件，而下一级供应商又从芯片制造商处购买半导体。

This has kept chip firms and car firms at arm’s length. Deloitte, a consultancy, talks of a “lack of visibility up and down the value chain”.

这使得芯片公司和汽车公司保持了一定的距离。咨询公司德勤谈到“价值链上下缺乏可见度”。

Paragraph 6:

Carmakers’ initial response has been to make more vehicles that require fewer chips, or to use the scarce resources to build their most profitable models. In the long run, the changing nature of the car will force them to think more creatively.

汽车制造商的最初反应是制造更多需要更少芯片的汽车，或者利用稀缺资源制造利润最高的车型。从长远来看，汽车不断变化的特性将迫使他们更具创造性地思考。

Fully electric cars are packed with twice as many chips by value than fossil-fuelled ones, says KPMG, another consultancy.

另一家咨询公司毕马威表示，全电动汽车的芯片数量是化石燃料汽车的两倍。

As Pedro Pacheco of Gartner, yet another firm of consultants, points out, software will become a significant source of profits as cars move from a disparate collection of chips to a centralised “brain” connected to the internet that can be updated remotely.

另一家咨询公司高德纳的佩德罗·帕切科指出，随着汽车从一个完全不同的芯片集合转变为一个可以远程更新的连接到互联网的中央“大脑”，软件将成为一个重要的利润来源。

In 2019 Tesla made an average of nearly $1,200 per vehicle from selling software updates, Mr Pacheco notes.

帕切科指出，2019年，特斯拉通过销售软件更新平均每辆车赚近1200美元。

Paragraph 7:

To ensure that the hardware woes don’t stymie this ambition, carmakers may need to take another leaf from Tesla’s book.

为了确保硬件问题不会阻碍这一雄心壮志，汽车制造商可能需要向特斯拉学习。

The Californian firm has been designing its own chips since 2016, which lets it launch new software-enabled features quickly.

特斯拉这家加州公司自2016年以来一直在设计自己的芯片，这使得它能够快速推出新的软件功能。

Volkswagen’s boss, Herbert Diess, has said that the German giant will develop its own chips and software for autonomous driving: “Software and hardware have to come out of one hand.”

大众汽车的老板赫伯特·迪斯曾表示，这家德国巨头将开发自己的芯片和自动驾驶软件：“软件和硬件必须来自一只手。”

Paragraph 8:

For now Volkswagen would like closer relations with chipmakers. So would its rivals. Few have the resources—or inclination—to design chips.

目前，大众希望与芯片制造商建立更密切的关系。它的竞争对手也是如此。极少的汽车公司有资源或倾向于设计芯片。

Some will still need help developing their own software. Big suppliers, fearful of losing out as carmakers cosy up to chip firms, are being forced to up their game.

有些汽车公司在开发他们自己的软件时仍然需要帮助。当汽车制造商与芯片公司靠近合作时，大型供应商担心自己丢掉机会，害怕被迫放弃竞争。

Bosch, the world’s biggest carparts maker, has invested 1bn ($1.2bn) in a factory that will start to produce advanced chips for cars later this year.

世界上最大的汽车配件制造商博世已经在一家工厂上投资10亿欧元（12亿美元），这家工厂将于今年晚些时候开始生产先进的汽车芯片。

A hiccup over paintwork is one thing. As the industry braces for a more electric and electronic future, it can ill afford to leave its fate in someone else’s hands.

油漆上的颜料问题是一回事。随着该行业准备迎接一个更加电气化和电子化的未来，它很难将自己的命运交给别人。

（恭喜读完本篇，英语阅读量729左右）

【重点词汇】（34个）

pin /pn/

v. 钉住；压住；将……用针别住

assembly-line

流水线

part-owner

合伙人

weigh on

重压于；使苦恼

pare back

缩减，削减

pecking order

啄序；社会等级

established/stblt/If you use established to describe something such as an organization, you mean that it is well known because it has existed for a long time.

adj. 资深的，老牌的；著名的（熟词僻义：常见意思是“建立”）

outsource/atss/to arrange for sb outside a company to do work or provide goods for that company.

v. 把…外包；外包

subunit/sbjunt/

n. 子单元；元素，亚单元

tier/t(r)/a row or layer of sth that has several rows or layers placed one above the other.

n. 层，排；行，列；等级

keep at arm’s length

保持距离；避免与……亲近

take a leaf from sb."s book

学某人的样子，仿效某人

cosy up to

同……表示友善；讨好；靠近

hiccup /hkp/a small problem or temporary delay.

n. 打嗝；小问题；暂时性耽搁（熟词僻义：常见意思是“打嗝”）

ill afford to

承受不起，难以负担

本文表示“芯片，半导体短缺”的词语：

pinned by chips

a shortage of semiconductors

the chip crunch

本文出现的汽车和咨询相关的公司汇总：

Ford/fd/ 福特

Jaguar/dɡju(r)/ 捷豹

Land Rover/lnd//rv(r)/ 路虎

Fiat/fit/ 菲亚特（意大利汽车品牌）

Chrysler /krasl(r)/ 克莱斯勒（美国产轿车品牌名）

PSA 标致雪铁龙

Peugeot /pjuo/ 标致

Citron雪铁龙

General Motors 通用汽车

Tesla 特斯拉

Volkswagen /"f:lks,va:gn/ 大众

Bosch /b/ 博世（德国汽车部件厂商）

Denso 电装（日本汽车部件厂商）

Deloitte 德勤（四大会计师事务所:普华永道(PwC)、德勤(DTT)、毕马威(KPMG)、安永(EY)。）

KPMG 毕马威(会计事务所)

Gartner /"ga:tn/ 高德纳（美国咨询公司）

【重点句子】（2个）

Though car bosses agree the worst is over, shortages are likely to dent output in 2022.

尽管汽车老板们都认为最糟糕的情况已经过去，但短缺仍然可能会在2022年影响产量。

Software and hardware have to come out of one hand.

软件和硬件必须来自一只手。

【词源故事】（1个）（来源于Tong）

tier来自古法语 tire,等级，层级，顺序，来自 tirer,拉长，拉出，词源同 attire,tirade.可能最终来自der,撕开，撕破，词源同 tear,dermal.

【本篇读后感】

本篇文章有大量的汽车公司，有各类车的英文名字和汽车行业的商业运作方式，汽车迷可以要好好学习这篇文章。

汽车行业目前也是深度内卷的行业，竞争激烈。有创新能力，会产生硬件和软件的汽车公司才有巨大优势，不至于将自己的命运交给别人。比如目前特斯拉就是这类公司。