大衆提出回購美國48萬輛作弊汽車
Volkswagen has offered to buy back nearly half a million cars in the US in what could be the world’s biggest auto repurchase deal, as the German carmaker sought to draw a line under its emissions scandal.
大衆汽車(Volkswagen)提議由其在美國回購近50萬輛汽車，這可能是世界上最大的汽車回購協議。這家德國汽車製造商正試圖了結排放醜聞。
The final terms of a deal with US regulators are still being negotiated, including the scale of the compensation for US car owners and the costs to VW, but are expected to run into billions of dollars.
該公司仍在與美國監管機構談判一份協議的最終條款，包括補償美國車主的力度和大衆承擔的成本，但預計這些成本將達到數十億美元。
It emerged in September that VW had installed test-cheating defeat devices in up to 11m diesel cars globally that served to understate their emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides, or NOX.
去年9月爆出的消息稱，大衆曾在全球多達1100萬輛柴油汽車上安裝“減效裝置”，以便在檢測中低報它們的氮氧化物排放量。
Analysts have estimated it will cost VW more than $7bn to buy back the 480,000 US cars, though it is not known how many consumers will accept the deal. Analysts expect the 6.7bn that VW set aside last year to be raised to 15bn today when it releases some details from its delayed earnings results — with some analysts estimating the final bill may exceed 45bn.
分析師們估計，在美國回購48萬輛汽車將給大衆帶來逾70億美元成本，但不清楚有多少消費者會接受這個方案。分析師們預計，今日大衆發佈延期的財報時，將把相關撥備由去年的67億歐元提高至150億歐元。有些分析師估計最終的賬單可能超過450億歐元。
The global car industry was shaken last year after the VW emissions scandal broke, denting consumer confidence and triggering a series of investigations in other countries into VW’s practices and those of rival carmakers.
去年大衆曝出的排放醜聞震動了全球汽車業，削弱了消費者的信心，並在其他國家引發了針對大衆乃至其它汽車製造商的一系列調查。
Investigators in France and Japan yesterday raided offices of Peugeot and Mitsubishi Motors in separate probes related to vehicle performance and emissions, while the UK released a report saying 37 different diesel cars in the UK failed emissions tests.
法國和日本的調查人員昨日突擊搜查了標緻(Peugeot)和三菱汽車(Mitsubishi Motors)的辦公室，這些互不關聯的調查涉及車輛性能和排放。同時英國發表的一份報告稱，37款柴油汽車未能通過英國的排放測試。
VW, which must finalise a deal with US authorities before a court deadline on June 21, still faces the prospect of lawsuits from customers and investors.
大衆必須在法庭設定的6月21日最後期限之前與美國有關部門敲定協議。該公司仍可能面臨客戶和投資者的訴訟。
US district court judge Charles R Breyer said at a hearing in San Francisco yesterday that there was still a lot of work to be done but added that the parties had devised “a concrete plan”.
美國地區法院法官查爾斯•佈雷耶(Charles R Breyer)昨日在舊金山的庭審期間表示仍有大量工作需要完成，但補充稱，雙方制定了“一份具體的計劃”。
“I’ve never seen any buyback proposal [of] that size. It’s unprecedented,” said Arndt Ellinghorst, analyst at Evercore ISI. “It doesn’t mean every consumer will trade their cars back. But they might do.”
“我從來沒有見過這種規模的回購提議。這是前所未有的，”Evercore ISI分析師阿恩特•埃林霍斯特(Arndt Ellinghorst)表示。“這並不意味着每一位消費者都會回賣他們的汽車。但他們可能這麼做。”
The move to buy back cars in the US is likely to increase pressure on VW to offer a more generous compensation package to customers in Europe. Although the company has started recalling affected cars in Europe, it has not offered compensation to customers.
在美國回購汽車的行動很可能會增加大衆所受的壓力，要求它向歐洲客戶提供更爲慷慨的補償方案。雖然該公司已經開始在歐洲召回受影響的汽車，但它迄今沒有提出要賠償客戶。
VW said yesterday: “The arrangements in the making in the US will have no legal bearing on proceedings outside of the US.”
大衆昨日表示：“在美國醞釀的安排與在美國以外的訴訟沒有法律關聯。”
