宇通客車 中企海外擴張的成功者

Founded as a bus repair factory in central Henan province in the 1960s, the Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Company has been driven by China’s growth to become the largest bus manufacturer in the world, accounting for 10 per cent of total global sales.

鄭州宇通客車(Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Company)在中國經濟增長的推動下成爲全球最大的客車製造商，銷量佔到全球的10%。這家創辦於上世紀60年代的公司最初是一家客車修理廠，總部在河南省中部的鄭州。

However, the engine that drove the company’s ascension — China’s prosperity — is now beginning to splutter.

然而，中國經濟繁榮這個推動該公司崛起的引擎現在開始嘎嘎作響。

As China accelerated out of a planned economy, Yutong hitched a ride by helping to ferry workers back and forth between their hinterland homes and jobs in the booming coastal regions. More than 67,000 of its buses hit the road last year.

宇通客車爲來往於內陸家鄉和蓬勃發展的沿海地區的工人提供運輸服務，搭上了中國加速擺脫計劃經濟的便車。該公司去年銷售了逾6.7萬輛客車。

Now, the home market responsible for Yutong’s rise is shrinking. As growth dips and wages rise, the flow of Chinese workers across the country — the largest known migration in human history — is slowing. China’s “floating population”, the county’s official count of migrant workers, last year fell for the first time since the global financial crisis, according to government statistics.

如今，幫助宇通崛起的國內市場正在萎縮。隨着經濟增長減速和工資上漲，中國國內的勞動力流動（這是人類歷史上已知的規模最大的遷徙）正在放緩。政府統計數據顯示，中國的“流動人口”去年出現自全球金融危機以來的首次下降——“流動人口”是中國對在非戶籍地務工人員的官方稱呼。

Chinese bus sales dropped in tandem from 604,000 to 598,000 between 2014 and 2015, according to Wind Information. Like many other Chinese companies reliant on domestic markets for profits, Yutong has taken this as a signal to ramp up efforts abroad.

與此相對應，萬得資訊(Wind Information)的數據顯示，從2014年到2015年，中國客車銷量從60.4萬輛下降至59.8萬輛。與其他許多利潤依賴國內市場的中國公司一樣，宇通將這視爲更大力拓展海外市場的信號。

The company’s overseas ventures have thus far focused on the developing world, but now, in line with Beijing’s desire for an innovative and internationally competitive auto industry, Yutong is pouring investment into new technologies such as fuel-replacement and autonomous driving.

宇通海外子公司迄今一直致力於在發展中世界開拓市場，但如今爲了響應政府關於發展創新和具有國際競爭力的汽車工業的號召，宇通大舉投資於燃料替代和自動駕駛等新技術。

From his office on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, Hu Fengju, head of Yutong’s international arm details the company’s two-pronged approach to international expansion.

宇通海外市場部部長鬍鋒舉在其位於鄭州郊區的辦公室裏詳述了該公司雙管齊下的國際擴張模式。

Burgeoning markets in developing countries are the long-haul plan, he says, as they provide a stark contrast to China’s increasing saturation.

他說，瞄準發展中國家迅猛發展的市場是長遠計劃，它們與中國市場的日益飽和形成了鮮明對比。

“[Buses] are interrelated with a place’s economic and human mobility levels,” says Mr Hu. “Our long-term focus is on developing countries. European markets are more mature but also have short-term growth potential.”

胡鋒舉表示：“（客車）與一個地方的經濟和人員流動水平相關。我們的長期焦點是在發展中國家。歐洲市場更爲成熟，但也有短期增長潛力。”

Chinese automakers face obstacles to entry, however, mostly in the form of local protectionism — much like western companies have faced since China began its partial opening of markets in the 1980s.

然而，中國汽車製造商面臨主要以地方保護主義形式存在的准入障礙，這與西方公司自上世紀80年代中國部分開放市場以來所面臨的障礙頗爲相似。

But Yutong believes it is up to the challenge, and has plans to expand its sales operations beyond the 130 countries where it currently operates. It also manufactures buses in Venezuela and Cuba — in a move to overcome import restrictions — and has sold more than 6,000 vehicles in each of those two countries.

但宇通認爲它已準備好迎接挑戰，並計劃將銷售業務擴張至目前運營的130個國家以外的地區。它還在委內瑞拉和古巴製造客車，此舉旨在克服進口限制，並在這兩個國家分別銷售了6000多輛車。

While developing markets offer long-term potential, mature markets such as Europe and North America provide immediate opportunities if Yutong can prove it is on par — or ahead — of its competition in technical prowess.

發展中市場具備長期潛力，但如果宇通能夠證明自己在技術實力上與競爭對手相當甚至領先，歐洲和北美等成熟市場當下也有機會。

In August last year, a Yutong bus drove itself 32km from Zhengzhou to the neighbouring city of Kaifeng, stopping at traffic lights and overtaking as it went, in what Yutong claimed was the first real-world test of a driverless bus.

去年8月，宇通的一輛自動駕駛客車從鄭州行駛了32公里抵達鄰近的開封市，遇到紅燈就停車，行駛途中還會超車。宇通宣稱，這是現實世界中的首例無人駕駛客車測試。

Li Feiqiang, deputy director of Yutong’s technology research centre, played down the immediate future of such technologies, saying that the primary purpose was to improve safety in regular buses.

宇通技術研究中心副主任李飛強淡化了此類技術在不久的將來就會成熟的可能性，他表示，主要目的還是提高普通客車的安全性。

It is in fuel replacement technologies that Yutong hopes to be most competitive, he says. “The safety, reliability and endurance of Yutong’s new energy vehicles is already at the same level as petrol-fuelled buses.”

他表示，宇通希望的是在燃料替代技術方面具備最強的競爭力。“宇通新能源汽車的安全性、可靠性和耐久性已達到與以汽油爲燃料的客車同等的水平。”

Thanks to an extensive government plan to support the sector, sales of electric buses have soared in China, with more than 92,000 electric buses registered as road-ready in 2015 — 15 times the number in the previous year. Yutong accounted for 20,000 of these, almost three times the sales from the previous year.

受政府一項行業支持計劃的推動，中國電動客車銷量大幅上升。2015年中國電動客車的上牌量超過9.2萬輛，是前一年的15倍。其中宇通電動客車佔到2萬輛，幾乎是前一年銷量的3倍。

Local government subsidies drove this sales growth, but an investigation into fraudulent claims could cut local spending on upgrades of public transport in the short term, which may eat into Yutong’s sales of electric vehicles, according to Zhi Aik Yeo, an analyst at Jefferies.

傑佛瑞(Jefferies)分析師Zhi Aik Yeo表示，地方政府補貼推動了電動客車銷量的增長，但一項新能源騙補調查可能會在短期內導致地方政府削減在公共交通升級方面的支出，這可能會影響宇通的電動客車銷量。

At the same time as home growth is likely to slow, 2015 also saw Yutong take its electronic technology for its first foray abroad, running a trial operation on the streets of Paris in a bid for a contract to replace 9,200 cities buses with electric models.

與此同時，隨着國內增長可能放緩，宇通也在2015年首次將其電動技術帶到國外，在巴黎街道進行了試運營，以爭取一項將9200輛城市客車更換爲電動客車的合約。

Yutong will face stiff competition in its internationalisation of electric buses, but not necessarily from non-Chinese rivals.

宇通要將其電動客車推向國際市場將面臨激烈競爭，但競爭不一定都來自中國以外的對手。

BYD, the Chinese carmaker that recently put five electric buses into circulation in London, is better placed to sell such vehicles to international markets, says Zhong Shi, a Beijing-based auto analyst.

中國汽車製造商比亞迪(BYD)的5輛電動客車最近在倫敦上路通行。駐北京的汽車分析師鍾石表示，在向國際市場銷售電動客車方面，比亞迪更有優勢。

“However, if Yutong decides that [electric] are important for its international development and invests more, they are likely to overtake BYD due to their more comprehensive bus-making capabilities,” he adds.

他補充稱：“然而，如果宇通認爲（電動客車）對其國際發展很重要並加大投資的話，那麼他們可能會超越比亞迪，因爲他們擁有更全面的客車生產能力。”

As with all large state-owned company, Yutong’s push abroad began — and is maintained — by a government drive to create national champions that “go out” and become internationally competitive.

與所有大型國企一樣，宇通進軍海外是源於政府一項旨在打造“走出去”並具備國際競爭力的國家冠軍企業的計劃——並從中得到支持。

As China’s top leaders met at a high-profile yearly meeting in Beijing, CCTV, China’s official state-run television group, chose to feature Yutong’s Cuba operations as an example of “Chinese Brands in Overseas Markets” in a glowing report that praised its efforts.

中國國家領導人在北京參加備受關注的全國人大會議期間，國家電視臺央視(CCTV)特意對宇通在古巴的業務作了專題報道，作爲“中國品牌在海外”的一個例子，盛讚宇通爲開拓海外市場所付出的努力。

This favoured position helped Yutong to push up net profits 35.5 per cent year-on-year to Rmb3.6bn in 2015 despite the overall slip in Chinese bus sales — a trend-bucking result that the company says it will repeat in 2016 and 2017.

在這種支持下，儘管2015年中國整體客車銷量下滑，宇通淨利潤同比增長35.5%，至36億元人民幣。該公司表示，這種逆勢表現將在2016年和2017年延續。