Chinese carmakers to make more high-end cars

中国汽车制造商拟打入中高端市场

Zhōngguóqìchē zhìzàoshāng nǐ dǎrù zhōnggāoduān shìchǎng

中国也许是全球最大的汽车市场,但中国尚未建立起值得骄傲的汽车产业.外国汽车制造商主导着中国市场,本土汽车产业正失去市场份额.

China may be the world's largest car market, but China has yet to build a car industry to be proud of. Foreign carmakers dominate the market, and the local industry is losing market share.

30年前,北京方面开始打造世界级的汽车产业,中国国有制造商与大众汽车和通用汽车签署了里程碑式的合资协议.今天,大众和通用旗下的品牌仍占据中国市场主导地位,而中国品牌仍徘徊在竞争极其激烈的低端市场.

Three decades after Beijing set out to build a world class car industry — signing landmark joint venture agreements with Volkswagen and General Motors to partner state-owned manufacturers — brands owned by Volkswagen and GM still dominate, while Chinese brands remain stuck in the hyper-competitive low end of the market.

中国制造商希望扭转这一趋势.在近日开幕的北京汽车展上,他们将发布一系列更大、更亮丽、更具运动感、更加创新的车型.汽车制造商,如吉利、长城和上汽这三家最强大的企业,正努力打入中高端市场.不少厂家将发布运动型多功能车(SUV),以求抓住年轻买家购买更具个性色彩车型的趋势.

Chinese manufacturers are hoping to reverse that trend by unveiling a range of bigger, glitzier, sportier and more innovative models at the Beijing motor show, which opens a few days ago. Chinese carmakers like Geely, Great Wall and SAIC — the three strongest — are working hard to enter the middle to upper segments of the market and many are launching sports utility vehicles to capture a trend toward more individualistic purchases by younger buyers.

过去一年里,北京方面已采取多个步骤扭转本土品牌的颓势,包括禁止大多数公车采购选择外国品牌,并迫使通用和大众等海外制造商与各自的中方合资伙伴一起研发自主品牌,以求实现更快的技术转移等.

In the past year, Beijing has taken several steps to reverse the decline, banning most official fleet purchases of foreign brands and forcing overseas makers like GM and VW to develop indigenous brands with their joint venture partners in a bid to ensure a more rapid transfer of technology.

词语解释：

主导 (zhǔdǎo) dominate

份额 (fèn'é) share

打造 (dǎzào) build

扭转 (niǔzhuǎn) reverse

亮丽 (liànglì) glitzy

颓势 (tuíshì) declining tendency

(Source: myechinese.com)