蘋果汽車誰來造 Apple car is a slice of the pie

Apple’s car is either the worst-kept secret since its watch or a cracker of an inside joke. “Project Titan” has generated massive hype for a product that is five to 10 years off. The iCar may be electric and drive itself or not. Few know. But if it does arrive, it will be stylish, tech savvy, integrate with the iPhone and be in demand. Who will build them? Not Apple: it does not build its phones or computers, and building cars is much more complicated — just ask Tesla.

蘋果(Apple)汽車要麼是繼蘋果手錶之後最沒能保守好的祕密，要麼是個只有內行人才聽得懂的高明笑話。Project Titan使一款5到10年後才有望問世的產品受到大肆炒作。iCar可能是無人駕駛的電動汽車，也可能不是。沒幾個人知道。但如果這款產品真正推出，它應該是一款時尚、高科技、能和iPhone整合的搶手產品。誰將是這款產品的製造者？不是蘋果：蘋果的手機、電腦都不是蘋果製造的，而製造汽車要複雜得多——問問特斯拉(Tesla)就知道了。

An existing carmaker might build it. Plenty of carmakers taught Chinese joint venture partners how to make cars as the price of admission to the growing Chinese market, even at the risk of increasing low-cost competition. The iCar market would be large and lucrative. A big global carmaker might be tempted to help with the build, even if Apple monopolised the branding, customer relationship and profitability. The benefits of scale and the brand halo might encourage them to overlook the risk of cannibalised sales.

製造者可能會由一家現有的汽車製造商擔當。作為獲准進入不斷增長的中國市場的代價，許多汽車製造商教中國合資夥伴如何製造汽車，甚至不惜冒著加劇低成本競爭的風險。iCar將擁有巨大而利潤豐厚的市場。即使蘋果在品牌、客戶關係和盈利能力方面獨佔好處，或許依然會有一家大型全球汽車製造商禁不住誘惑，幫助蘋果製造汽車。規模效應和品牌光環帶來的好處可能會鼓勵它們忽視類似產品上市的風險。

More likely that a Chinese carmaker would step in. The manufacturer would be cost efficient for Apple and gain needed scale for itself. And premium-priced Apple cars are unlikely to cannibalise sales of low-priced models for the Chinese market.

更有可能的是，會有一家中國汽車製造商參與進來。與這家制造商合作對蘋果來說將具有成本效益，製造商自身則能獲得所需的規模。定價高階的蘋果汽車不大可能影響中國市場上低端車型的銷售。

Another likely option is Magna Steyr, the world’s largest white-label carmaker. It builds cars in European and Chinese plants to meet overflow demand or specialised, low-volume models for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler and Aston Martin. Building cars is a side business for parent company Magna International, but the group has $18bn in enterprise value, supplies all the big carmakers and has been serious about growth since its founder left in late 2012 (shares are up 166 per cent since). Like the phones, most of the iCar’s profit will be Apple’s, but there is a slice of pie there for the partner.

另一個可能的選項是世界最大的代工汽車製造商麥格納斯太爾(Magna Steyr)。該公司在歐洲和中國的工廠為寶馬(BMW)、梅賽德斯-賓士(Mercedes-Benz)、克萊斯勒(Chrysler)和阿斯頓馬丁(Aston Martin)製造汽車，以滿足超過產能的需求，或者製造特別版的小批量車型。對於其母公司麥格納國際(Magna International)而言，汽車製造是一項副業，但麥格納斯太爾的企業價值達到180億美元，是所有大型汽車製造商的供應商。該集團在其創始人2012年末離開後十分重視增長（那之後股價上漲了166%）。就像iPhone一樣，iCar的大多數利潤將歸蘋果，但合作伙伴總能從中分得一杯羹。