紐時賞析／電動車銷售成長率不如預期 福特、特斯拉改變生產計畫

電動車銷售減少，製造商紛紛改變生產計劃，即使是主要電動車生產商特斯拉也不例外。（美聯社）

Automakers Deprioritize Electric Cars

電動車銷售減少 製造商改變生產計劃

For much of the last five years, automakers have been spending billions of dollars in a frantic race to develop electric vehicles and build factories to produce them, with expectations that consumers would flock to these new models.

在過去五年大部分時間，汽車製造商花費數十億美元投入一場瘋狂競賽，要開發電動車並建造工廠生產它們，還預期消費者會蜂擁購買這些新車型。

But in the past 12 months, the growth rate of electric vehicle sales has slowed, as some car buyers have balked at the high prices of electric cars and trucks and the hassles of charging them.

但在過去12個月，電動車銷售成長率已趨緩，因爲一些汽車買家對電動車和電動卡車高昂售價及充電問題感到猶豫。

The shift in consumer sentiment is now forcing many automakers to pull back on aggressive investment plans and pivot, at least partly, back to the internal-combustion engine vehicles that still account for most new car sales and a large share of corporate profits.

消費者想法轉變，如今迫使許多汽車製造商撤銷激進的投資計劃，並至少部分轉向內燃引擎車，這類車仍佔新車銷量的大部分及公司利潤的一大部分。

The latest example came Thursday when Ford Motor said it would retool a plant in Canada to produce large pickup trucks rather than the electric sport utility vehicles it had previously planned to make there.

最新的實例發生在週四，福特汽車表示將改裝加拿大一間工廠，以生產大型皮卡車，而非先前計劃在當地生產的電動跑旅車。

Ford’s move comes a day after General Motors said it expected to make 200,000 to 250,000 battery-powered cars and trucks this year, about 50,000 fewer than it had previously forecast.

福特汽車宣佈採取這項措施的前一天，通用汽車表示，他們預計今年製造20萬至25萬輛電動車和電動卡車，比先前預期少了五萬輛。

“After the pandemic, there was a huge exuberance around EVs, and I think a lot of the manufacturers thought that growth was going to continue,” said Arun Kumar, a partner and managing director in the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners, a consulting firm. “But the reality is that’s not the case, and it’s a smart move to make sure you’re not losing market share in internal combustion.”

艾睿鉑諮詢公司合夥人兼汽車和產業實務總經理庫馬爾表示：「疫情過後，外界對電動車有巨大的熱情，我想許多製造商認爲成長會持續。但實際上並沒有，確保不要流失內燃機市佔率是聰明的舉措。」

Even Tesla, the leading producer of electric cars, has changed its plans because it no longer expects sales to grow 50% a year; its global sales fell 6.6% in the first six months of the year. The company has slowed plans to build an electric-car factory in Mexico and canceled a meeting in April between its CEO, Elon Musk, and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to discuss a new plant in that country.

即使是主要電動車生產商特斯拉都改變計劃，因爲該公司不再預期銷量一年會成長50%；其全球銷量在今年前六個月下滑6.6%。該公司已延緩在墨西哥建造電動車工廠的計劃，並取消執行長馬斯克和印度總理莫迪四月的會面，那次會面原本要討論在印度興建新廠。

文／Neal E. Boudette　譯／羅方妤