通用汽車公司任命"新型"掌門人

In naming Mary Barra as its next chief executive, General Motors will become the first U.S. auto maker to be headed by a woman. But it is her background, as opposed to her gender, that sends a stronger message to investors.

通用汽車(General Motors)任命瑪麗•巴拉(Mary Barra)爲該公司首席執行長，成爲第一家由女性領導的美國汽車生產商。但對於投資者來說，更具意義的是巴拉的職業背景而不是她的性別。

GM is much leaner than it was when it sought bankruptcy protection in 2009. But investors have been nagged by concerns that vestiges of the hidebound culture that sent the company over the edge remain. GM's continuing problems in Europe, and its inability so far to match Ford Motor's success in streamlining vehicle platforms, hasn't helped.

與2009年申請破產保護時相比，現在通用汽車已進行了大幅度的瘦身。但投資者擔心，曾經導致該公司陷入破產邊緣的僵化的企業文化還沒有被完全消除。通用汽車在歐洲市場仍面臨困境，另外迄今爲止該公司在精簡汽車平臺方面的成果仍無法和福特汽車(Ford Motor)相媲美，這些都對通用汽車不利。

Regardless of who leads GM, Europe, where the industry is struggling with structural excess capacity, will be a problem for some time. The good news, such as it is, is that Europe has stabilized lately, with industrywide sales up 2.5% in the three months ended in October from a year earlier.

無論誰領導通用汽車，正在結構性產能過剩中掙扎的歐洲汽車市場未來一段時間內仍將是一個棘手的問題。但好消息是歐洲市場最近已經企穩，截至10月份的三個月中，歐洲汽車行業的總銷量同比增長2.5%。

The effort to reduce platforms, or basic sets of vehicle architecture, which over the long haul should bring down development costs, improve quality and improve flexibility as drivers' tastes shift, is an area where Ms. Barra may be able to make a difference. Currently head of product development, with stints managing a plant and running engineering divisions, her appointment represents a break from GM's reputation of favoring career bean counters for its top spot.

巴拉在減少汽車平臺（即基本車型）方面可能會有所作爲。長期而言，減少平臺應當會降低研發成本，改善質量，並可以根據買家喜好的變化而增加靈活性。巴拉目前擔任產品研發主管，她擁有管理工廠和工程部門的經驗。她獲任首席執行長對於通用汽車來說是一個突破，此前該公司一直喜歡聘請精打細算的職業經理人擔任首席執行長。

'That she's been put in that position is a significant change for the company and the culture,' says IHS Automotive analyst Tom Libby.

IHS Automotive分析師利比(Tom Libby)表示，巴拉被任命爲通用汽車首席執行長是該公司及其企業文化的一個重大改變。

It is, to be sure, one thing to put an emphasis on streamlining and refreshing GM's vehicle lineup and quite another to succeed at it. But the shift in focus from merely surviving to making better cars more efficiently may convince more investors to lean into GM's stock.

雖然通用汽車加強精簡和更新汽車車型方面的工作並不等於就能夠在方面取得成功，但該公司的業務重點將從勉強生存下去轉向以更高效率生產更好的汽車，這可能會吸引更多投資者購買通用汽車的股票。