低油價提振美國汽車銷量

Falling fuel prices and an accelerating economy provided a powerful boost to US car sales in December, helping to make 2014 one of the strongest years on record for an industry that five years ago appeared to be facing collapse.

燃油價格不斷下跌以及美國經濟增速加快，有力提振了美國去年12月的汽車銷量，這讓2014年成爲有記錄以來美國汽車行業表現最爲強勁的年份之一，而在5年前，該行業似乎將面臨破產。

Sales across the industry jumped a seasonally-adjusted 13 per cent over December 2013, according to preliminary estimates from Chrysler, the US arm of Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

根據意大利菲亞特克萊斯勒汽車(Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)美國分公司克萊斯勒(Chrysler)的初步估算，去年12月美國汽車銷量同比增長13%（經季節調整）。

Low interest rates, coupled with news in December that the US economy recorded its fastest growth in a decade at 5 per cent in the third quarter, also made consumers more willing to spend on new cars, analysts said.

此外，分析人士表示，低利率以及12月美國經濟錄得10年來最快增速的消息，令消費者更願意花錢購置新車。去年第三季度，美國經濟增長5%。

The importance of falling petrol prices was underscored by the fact that the biggest beneficiaries were carmakers with the strongest line-ups of more fuel-hungry pick-up trucks and sports utility vehicles.

油價下跌的重要性突出反映在這個事實上：最大的受益者是那些擁有最多皮卡和SUV系列的汽車製造商，這類車型往往耗油更多。

Sales in December for General Motors, the US’s largest carmaker by sales, were 19 per cent up year-on-year. Sales for Chrysler, which manufactures the fashionable Jeep SUV and Ram pick-up truck brands, were 20 per cent ahead of December 2013.

美國銷量最大的汽車製造商通用汽車(GM)12月銷量同比增長19%。生產時尚的Jeep SUV和Ram皮卡品牌的克萊斯勒銷量同比增長20%。

December’s strong figures partly reflected the US economy’s general strength, but the fuel price fall was the “icing on the cake”, she said: “If you’re spending less on gas, you have more money in your household budget and you can put that towards a new vehicle.”

12月的強勁數據部分反映出美國經濟的整體強勢，但汽車信息網站分析師米歇爾•克雷布斯(Michelle Krebs)表示，燃料價格下跌是“錦上添花”，“如果天然氣支出下降，家庭預算就會增加，可以用來購置新車。”

The average price for a US gallon of fuel fell to $2.30 in the week starting December 29, according to Washington’s Energy Information Administration, 31 per cent down from a year earlier and 37 per cent down from June’s $3.64 peak.

根據華盛頓美國能源情報署(Energy Information Administration)的數據，自12月29日開始的一週，美國燃料價格平均跌至每加侖2.30美元，同比下跌31%，較去年6月的3.64美元峯值水平下跌37%。