天貓將在自動販賣機上賣汽車

A can of soda, a packet of cigarettes?.?.?.?and a spanking new Maserati. China’s Alibaba is upping the stakes in the world of vending machines, promising to make buying a car “as easy as buying a can of Coke”.

一罐蘇打水，一包香菸……再來一輛嶄新的瑪莎拉蒂(Maserati)。中國的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)提高了自動販賣機的檔次，承諾要讓“買車跟買飲料一樣方便”。

The mega vending machine, expected next year, serves as a fresh symbol of China’s consumerism and the global zeitgeist for instant gratification.

預計在明年啓用的這種大型自動販賣機，將成爲中國的消費主義、乃至全球崇尚即時滿足的時代精神的新象徵。

Buyers will be able to browse cars on their smartphones, press the buy button, and the car will be disgorged at ground level from a vertical display tower.

買家將能夠在智能手機上瀏覽汽車，按下“購買”按鈕，汽車就將從一個垂直展示塔的底層吐出來。

Yu Wei, general manager of the automotive division on Alibaba’s Tmall ecommerce platform, said the era of online car shopping had already arrived and the new automotive retail model “will make buying cars as easy as buying a can of Coke”, he told Alibaba’s news service.

阿里巴巴旗下的天貓(Tmall)電子商務平臺的汽車部總經理俞巍表示，網購汽車的時代已經到來。他在“天貓汽車嘉年華”上表示，新的汽車零售模式將使“買車跟買飲料一樣方便”。

Alibaba is spearheading its new retail model across sectors, blending online shopping with physical stores to offer consumers more choices and, crucially, collate ever more data that can be looped back to encourage them to spend more.

阿里巴巴正將其零售新模式推廣到各個品類，把在線購物與實體店結合起來，爲消費者提供更多選擇，更重要的是採集越來越多的數據，再利用這些數據鼓勵消費者花更多的錢。

However, the company will not be the first to sell cars from a vending machine. Singaporean used-car seller Autobahn Motors set up a futuristic 15-storey showroom in December, dubbing it the “world’s largest luxury car vending machine”, while Carvana has built more modest versions in Tennessee and Texas.

然而，該公司不會是第一家從自動販賣機出售汽車的公司。新加坡二手車賣家Autobahn Motors去年12月推出一間未來派風格的15層展示廳，號稱“世界最大的豪車自動販賣機”，而Carvana已在田納西州和德克薩斯州打造了更爲低調的版本。

While Carvana keeps the experience real with a machine that takes a token mega coin, Alibaba plans to plug its vending machines into its ecosystem that incorporates financing and data about the buyer’s credit standing.

Carvana着力保持逼真的體驗，運行一臺收取巨大的象徵性硬幣的機器，而阿里巴巴計劃將自動販賣機插入其生態系統，這個系統包含融資和有關買家信用狀況的數據。

Buyers with the requisite credit rating from Alibaba’s scoring system Sesame Credit will be able to drive off in their car with a 10 per cent downpayment, and continue to make monthly instalments through payments service Alipay.

在阿里巴巴的信用評分系統芝麻信用(Sesame Credit)達到信用評級要求的買家，將能夠以10%的首付把車開走，然後通過支付寶(Alipay)每月分期付款。

Buyers appear to be lapping up the concept. Gary Hong, general manager of Autobahn Motors, said sales were up an annual 30 per cent to about 130 luxury vehicles following the move. He currently has a classic car being sold for almost $10m.

買家們似乎對這個概念欣然接受。新加坡Autobahn Motors的總經理Gary Hong表示，啓用汽車自動販賣模式後，豪車銷量同比增長了30%。他目前銷售的一輛經典汽車價格近1000萬美元。

The business model reduces costs, including of the manpower need to store and keep cars clean and shiny.

這種業務模式有助於降低成本，包括儲存以及保持汽車清潔和光鮮所需的人力。

Once a customer selects their car, said Mr Hong, it takes just a couple of minutes for it to be shuttled down from the tower — time spent watching an introductory video. “The cars always appear in their best light because of the spotlighting,” he said. “It’s like going to a jewellery shop or an Apple store.”

Gary Hong表示，客戶作出選擇後，其選定的汽車僅需幾分鐘就能從樓上送下來，在此期間可以觀看一段介紹視頻。“由於打着聚光燈，這些汽車總是以最光鮮的形象亮相，”他表示。“就像去珠寶店或蘋果(Apple)商店。”

The cars are well-lit in displays in the building-cum-vending box, and are visible from the street through floor-to-ceiling windows.

汽車在燈光明亮的建築/自動販賣機內展示，從街上就可通過落地窗看見。

Chinese shoppers have already shown themselves willing to buy cars online. Maserati sold 100 vehicles in 18 seconds during a flash sale on Tmall, while a similar sale saw fellow Italian luxury car brand Alfa Romeo sell 350 Giulia Milano cars in 33 seconds, according to Alibaba.

中國消費者已經表現出願意在線購買汽車。據阿里巴巴介紹，在天貓舉辦的一次秒殺促銷中，瑪莎拉蒂在18秒內售出了100輛車，而同爲意大利豪車品牌的阿爾法羅密歐(Alfa Romeo)在類似的促銷活動中，在33秒內售出350輛Giulia Milano車。

China, which has been the world’s biggest auto market for the best part of a decade, sold more than 28m cars last year, according to the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

在過去10年的大部分時間裏，中國是世界最大汽車市場。據政府支持的中國汽車工業協會(CAAM)介紹，去年中國汽車銷量超過2800萬輛。

Vending machines, particularly ubiquitous in Japan, are also popular in China, where there are an estimated 100,000 selling drinks, candy and other comestibles.

在日本無所不在的自動販賣機，在中國也很受歡迎。估計現在有10萬臺這種機器在銷售飲料、糖果和其他食物。