吉利打造新一代倫敦出租車

The London Taxi Company has set out its vision of the future for the black cab and it involves green technology, exports to cities across the world and dedicated taxi apps.

倫敦出租車公司(London Taxi Company)已經爲其黑色出租車規劃了未來前景，包括綠色科技、出口到世界各地的城市以及專門的打車應用。

The existing TX4 taxi is a cherished symbol of London but is seen by some as a noisy, smelly monstrosity with an iron-hard suspension. It sells for about £37,000, including value added tax — more than the on-the-road price of a Mercedes E-Class.

現有的TX4出租車是倫敦珍視的標誌，但在一些人看來，它是個發出巨大噪音、散發濃重臭氣的怪物，懸掛系統也硬得要命。它的售價約爲3.7萬英鎊（包含增值稅），超過了梅賽德斯-奔馳(Mercedes-Benz)E級轎車的上路價。

Geely, the Chinese owner of the London Taxi Company, wants the next-generation Hackney cab to turn that perception round by introducing electric taxis with aluminium bodies that will have sufficient battery power to travel from Piccadilly Circus to Piccadilly railway station in Manchester.

倫敦出租車公司的中國東家吉利(Geely)希望下一代哈克尼(Hackney)出租車能扭轉這種印象。新款車型爲鋁製車身電動車，擁有足夠從倫敦皮卡迪利圓環(Piccadilly Circus)跑到曼徹斯特皮卡迪利火車站的電池續航能力。

Li Shufu, chairman of Geely, said the latest cabs would be the “most technologically advanced taxis the world has ever seen and, crucially, they will be the greenest ever”.

吉利董事長李書福稱，最新款出租車將是“有史以來全世界技術最先進的出租車，而且關鍵的是，它們還將是最環保的”。

The new taxi, called the TX5, will be built in Coventry after Geely announced on Thursday the largest Chinese automotive investment in the UK — a £250m factory on the outskirts of the city.

上週，吉利宣佈了中國汽車製造商在英國最大的一筆汽車業投資——在考文垂市郊投資2.5億英鎊建一家工廠——用於生產這款被稱爲TX5的新出租車。

The TX5 will go into production in 2017 in time for new rules the year after limiting taxi emissions in London. The capital is introducing an ultra low emissions zone in the congestion charging area, which was also confirmed on Thursday.

TX5將於2017年投產，恰好趕在倫敦限制出租車排放的新規次年實施之前。倫敦即將在擁堵收費區域劃定一個超低排放區的消息，也在近日被證實。

The vehicle — yet to be unveiled but said to be “instantly recognisable” as a London taxi — will feature a 400kg battery that can be recharged on the move by a small petrol engine. The TX5 has been designed with Emerald Automotive, the Coventry-based electric van maker Geely acquired last year.

這款車雖然尚未亮相，但據稱將能讓人“一眼看出來”它是倫敦出租車。車上將配置一塊400公斤重的電池，可以在行駛中由一個小型汽油發動機充電。TX5由位於考文垂的電動貨車生產商Emerald Automotive設計，吉利去年收購了這家公司。

David Bailey, of Aston Business School, said this highlighted the region’s particular expertise in low-carbon vehicles and engineering. “It has emerged as something as a ‘phoenix industry’ from the ashes of mass manufacturing,” he said.

阿斯頓大學商學院(Aston Business School)的戴維•貝利(David Bailey)說，這突出了這一地區在低碳汽車和機械方面的專長。“這一行業已經從大規模製造業的廢墟中‘涅槃而生’，”他說。

The new investment is the latest in a string of triumphs for the Midlands. Already this week HSBC has announced Birmingham as the home of its newly separated retail and commercial bank, while Jaguar Land Rover has laid out plans to expand its Coventry head-quarters and invest in a plant in Birmingham.

這筆新投資是英格蘭中部地區(Midlands)一連串成功的最新亮點。匯豐(HSBC)近日已宣佈，將把新分離出來的那家零售和商業銀行的總部設在伯明翰，而捷豹路虎(Jaguar Land Rover)已制定計劃，將擴大在考文垂的總部並在伯明翰投資一家工廠。

Geely said its investment would create 1,000 jobs by 2023, but it faces a fight to secure the engineers it needs. “We are scraping the barrel in terms of local talent because JLR is hiring like mad,” said Carl-Peter Forster, the former head of JLR who is now chairman of the London Taxi Company.

吉利表示，它的投資到2023年將創造1000個就業崗位，但它面臨一場招募所需工程師的“搶人大戰”。“我們正在想盡一切辦法招攬本地人才，因爲捷豹路虎也在瘋狂招人，”捷豹路虎前負責人、現任倫敦出租車公司董事長的卡爾-彼得•福斯特(Carl-Peter Forster)說。

Still, Geely’s announcement marks the beginnings of a turnround for the company, formerly known as Manganese Bronze. Hangzhou-based Geely, which also owns Swedish carmaker Volvo, bought the perennially loss-making taxi maker out of administration in 2013.

而且，吉利的聲明標誌着倫敦出租車公司開始扭虧爲盈，該公司的前身是錳銅控股(Manganese Bronze)。總部位於中國杭州的吉利在2013年收購了這家常年虧損的出租車製造商。吉利還是瑞典汽車製造商沃爾沃(Volvo)的東家。

The plan is for the new factory to be producing 36,000 vehicles a year by 2023, with about 80 per cent of the cabs to be exported. An existing plant in Coventry produces about 1,500 vehicles for the UK, with a facility in Shanghai producing a similar amount for export to countries including Australia, Azerbaijan and the Gulf states.

新工廠計劃到2023年實現年產3.6萬輛汽車，其中約80%的出租車用於出口。考文垂現有的工廠每年僅能生產約1500輛汽車，全部供應英國市場，而位於上海的一家工廠每年也能生產類似這個數量的汽車，用於出口到澳大利亞、阿塞拜疆及海灣國家。

Geely also said it was working with software developers to find ways of countering the threat posed by the likes of Uber, the fast-growing app that allows passengers to hail the company’s cabs from their smartphones.

吉利還表示，它正在與軟件開發公司合作，尋找方法應對優步(Uber)等叫車應用帶來的威脅。優步是一款成長迅速的應用，可以讓乘客通過自己的智能手機叫到該公司的出租車。

“We regularly have discussions as to how to flexibly handle and deal with the impacts delivered by the emergence of so many cab-hailing apps,” said Mr Li.

“我們經常討論如何靈活處理並應對如此多打車應用的出現帶來的衝擊，”李書福說。

Asked if Geely was interested in introducing a rival ride-hailing app, Mr Li said: “Yes indeed. Currently we are having some discussion as to whether we can work with some of the app developers for devising something that we will value very, very much.”

當被問到吉利是否有興趣引入一款打車應用參與競爭時，李書福說：“確實有。目前，我們正在討論是否可以與一些應用開發公司合作，設計出一款能爲我們帶來巨大價值的應用”。