中英汽車業合作換擋提速
British and Chinese motor industry co-operation — best known for Shanghai Auto’s ownership of the Longbridge plant in Birmingham — will advance this week to include projects from red London buses to Aston Martin sports cars, but with a common thread: electric power.
英中兩國汽車業的合作以上海汽車(Shanghai Auto)對伯明翰長橋(Longbridge)汽車廠的收購最爲知名。而在本週，這一合作將取得很大進展，這其中包括了從紅色倫敦公交車到阿斯頓氠丁(Aston Martin)運動型轎車在內的多個項目，它們的共同點在於：都和電動力有關。
Chinese car and battery maker BYD will show off the world’s first electric double-decker bus on Wednesday after signing a 10-year joint venture with Scottish manufacturer Alexander Dennis (ADL) to produce a zero-emissions fleet for the UK.
週三，中國汽車和電池製造商比亞迪(BYD)將展示全球第一款電動雙層巴士。此前，該公司與蘇格蘭製造商亞歷山大·丹尼斯有限公司(ADL)簽署了一份爲期十年的合資協議，爲英國打造零排放的公交車隊。
The two companies will together build 2,000, 12-metre single-decker electric buses in Falkirk for the British market over 10 years, in a deal generating 660m in total revenues.
兩家企業將在10年時間裏在福爾柯克爲英國市場製造2000輛12米長的單層電動公交車，協議總計會創造6.6億英鎊的營收。
But BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett, and ADL are in advanced talks to extend the deal to include double deckers. “When this happens there is potential to triple the scale of the current deal to almost 2bn,” the companies said.
不過，曾獲沃倫巴菲特(Warren Buffett)投資的比亞迪正在和ADL開展深入磋商，準備將該協議拓展至包括雙層巴士在內。兩家企業表示：“此事一旦達成，現有交易的規模可能會擴大兩倍，達到近20億英鎊。”
The bus will be unveiled outside Lancaster House on Wednesday alongside the new hybrid electric TX5 taxi from the Chinese-owned London Taxi Company and the Aston Martin DB10 sports car from the forthcoming James Bond film, Spectre.
該款巴士將於週三在蘭卡斯特宮(Lancaster House)外亮相。和該車一道亮相的，還有來自倫敦出租車公司(London Taxi Company)的新型混合電動TX5出租車，以及阿斯頓氠丁DB10運動型轎車。目前，倫敦出租車公司已由中國人全資持股。而阿斯頓氠丁DB10運動型轎車則會出現在即將上映的007電影《幽靈黨》(Spectre)中。
Aston Marton is expected to announce an agreement on fresh investment from China Equity, a buyout group, which will help the British carmaker produce an all-electric version of its Rapide luxury saloon.
阿斯頓氠丁預計會公佈一份有關收購集團信中利(China Equity)的新一輪投資的協議，這筆資金將幫助這家英國汽車製造商生產一款純電動的Rapide豪華轎車。
A battery-powered concept version of the car will be in the garden at Lancaster House on Wednesday, and Aston Martin will seek to bring the UK-made variant to market within two years.
週三，蘭卡斯特宮的花園裏將展出該款車型的電池動力概念車，阿斯頓氠丁將尋求在兩年內將這種英國製造的變種車型推向市場。
The deals are part of a raft of Sino-British business being conducted under the auspices of a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping as the UK seeks to woo investment from the world’s second-largest economy.
比亞迪的競爭對手、旗下擁有瑞士品牌沃爾沃(Volvo)的中國製造商吉利(Geely)，也將首次展出TX5混合動力出租車。這款6個座位的出租車擁有一系列新特性，其中包括WiFi熱點、玻璃全景天窗及1958年來首次出現的後鉸鏈車門。
China, which is grappling with well-documented air quality and congestion problems in its cities, is closing the gap on emissions standards with western peers and has provided incentives to encourage the production and sale of electric vehicles, such as reducing the purchase price and supporting infrastructure.
這款以電池做動力的出租車擁有新的輕型鋁製結構，這比目前的鐵製底盤前進了一步。此外，該車還支持一款汽油“増程器”。
