空中客車殺入美國本土市場大綱
Business.
商業。
Airbus
空中客車
Coming to America
殺入美國本土市場
Europe's big aircraft-maker is to open a factory in Alabama
歐洲飛機制造巨頭將在阿拉巴馬州建工廠
THE red imported fire ant first entered America through the port of Mobile, Alabama, in the 1930s. Being more aggressive than most native species, it soon spread across the country. On July 2nd Airbus said it would open its first jet assembly line in America in Mobile. The reaction of Boeing, the European aircraft-maker's biggest rival, suggests it fears a nasty sting from this foreign pest. And with good reason: Airbus says the factory, which will cost $600m and start delivering aircraft in 2016, will help to boost its share of America's civil-aviation market to nearly 50%, up from 20% today.
紅色的火蟻作爲外來物種，20世紀30年代首次從阿拉巴馬州西南部港市莫比爾傳入美國。它比大部分本土物種的侵略性大得多，迅速遍及全國。7月2號，空中客車宣佈將在莫比爾港市興建其在美國的第一個飛機組裝廠。波音，作爲空客最大的競爭對手，迴應道恐怕會被這個外來的害蟲狠狠咬傷，而且理由很充分：空客稱其工廠造價6000萬美元，2016年就開始交貨，這將促使他們在美國民航市場所佔的份額由今天的20%提高到將近50%。
Airbus's move seems well-timed. With the four biggest airlines in the world, America remains the largest market for civilian jets. Demand has been muted for years, usually accounting for less than 30% of orders worldwide, down from 50% in 2003. But this is likely to change. Jets flying in America are typically several years older than elsewhere. Perhaps 5,000 new aircraft may be needed in the next 20 years. The single-aisle 319s, 320s and 321s that Airbus will put together in Mobile-albeit initially at a modest rate of up to 50 a year-will challenge Boeing's popular 757.
空客的這步舉措看起來時機剛剛好。美國擁有全球四大航空公司，一直是民用飛機最大的市場。近年來需求減弱，其訂單經常不到全球訂單的30%，而在2003年，這個比例還是50%。不過這種局面即將扭轉。在美國運行的飛機通常比其他地區的機齡要老幾年，未來20年大概需要5000架新飛機。空客將在莫比爾市生產大量型號爲319,320和321的單過道噴氣式飛機，雖然一開始是一年近50架，比例還較爲和緩，但這大大挑戰了常用的波音757的地位。
Earlier plans by Airbus to make planes in America were thwarted when Boeing beat it to win a large order for mid-air refuelling tankers from the Pentagon. By selling aircraft that are “made in the USA”, Airbus hopes to win over patriotic locals (just as Japanese carmakers won them over by opening factories in America in the 1980s and 1990s). American politicians have long supported Boeing against its European challenger, though it is unfair to classify Airbus as wholly European. Like Boeing, its supply chain is global. It claims, for example, to be the largest foreign customer of America's civil-aerospace industry.
波音公司曾挫敗了空客早期在美國造飛機的計劃，並從國防部贏得一筆很大的空中加油飛機的訂單。空客公司希望通過銷售“美國製造”的飛機，來爭取有強烈愛國心的美國消費者（就像日本的汽車製造商曾在20世紀80年代和90年代通過在美國興建工廠而贏得了這批消費者的青睞）。美國的政客長期以來支持波音公司以抵抗其歐洲勁敵，但是將空客定性爲純粹的歐洲公司是不公平的，就像波音公司，其供給鏈也是全球性的。例如，空客就聲稱將成爲美國民航工業最大的外國客戶。
Airbus says the new factory will bring it closer to its customers in America. It will also create a natural currency hedge, with more of its costs incurred in dollars rather than euros. (Aircraft, like oil, are largely priced in dollars.) Given the uncertainty surrounding the euro, such hedging is doubly wise. Ironically, Airbus will also receive subsidies from Alabama reckoned to be worth almost $160m. Airbus said it noticed what was on offer only when it investigated the subsidies paid to Boeing. (The two firms are engaged in a long dispute before the World Trade Organisation.)
空客公司稱，新工廠將會拉近其與美國消費者之間的距離，還會產生自然貨幣對衝，因爲其成本更多的是以美元結算，而非歐元。（飛機就像石油一樣，大部分都是以美元定價。）考慮到歐元區的不確定性，這種對衝更爲明智。諷刺的是，空客也會得到阿拉巴馬州的補貼，據說有將近1600萬美元。空客稱，只有調查到波音公司接受的補貼才能知道州政府具體提供的是什麼。（這兩個公司在世貿組織關於補貼的爭論已持續多年。）
Airbus's new factory is expected to create 1,000 jobs. Part of the appeal of Alabama is that it is a “right-to-work” state, where employees cannot be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. Boeing's factories are largely in closed-shop Washington state. A new Boeing factory in right-to-work South Carolina was blocked by the union-friendly National Labour Relations Board, until Boeing gave a gold-plated pay deal to its unionised workers in existing factories. So far, despite high unemployment in the EU, Airbus's European workers seem to have bought their bosses' argument that the new factory will not take jobs from Europe, but may create some by boosting sales in America.
空客公司的新工廠有望帶來1000個工作崗位。阿拉巴馬州吸引商家的一部分因素是其州政府保障就業權，僱工不必面臨以加入工會作爲受聘的條件的窘境。而波音的工廠大部分在華盛頓州，在那裏工廠只僱傭工會會員。在保障就業權的南卡羅來納州，親工會的全國勞資關係委員會封了波音公司的一個新工廠，直到公司向現有工廠裏已加入工會的員工交出一份華而不實的薪水標準。到目前爲止，儘管歐盟的失業率仍居高不下，空客公司的歐洲員工似乎已相信了老闆們的言論，新工廠不會造成歐洲的工作崗位流失，反而會因爲美國良好的銷售情況而帶來更多的工作機會。
Some European politicians have interpreted Airbus's move as the latest depressing symbol of Europe's decline. That is a stretch. What is most striking is the self-confident approach to globalisation taken by Airbus, a company that over the years has suffered more than its share of petty squabbles, especially between its French and German tribes.
一些歐洲政客將空客的這一舉動視爲歐洲衰敗的最新標誌，令人十分沮喪。這種說法就誇大其詞了。最令人震驚的還是空客公司這一信心十足的全球化舉措，這個公司數年來經歷了無數瑣碎的爭吵，尤其是其法國公司和德國公司之間的爭執更是令人頭疼。
How Boeing will respond to this rocket-blast of competition in its own backyard remains to be seen. So far it has merely grumbled that the new factory will not change the fact that Airbus has benefited from huge subsidies at home. Perhaps Boeing should open a factory in Europe? That is easier said than done. Few places in the EU can match Alabama's sweet mix of flexible working practices and southern-fried tax breaks.
波音公司在自己的地盤如何應對這場激烈的競爭令人拭目以待。到目前爲止它只是抱怨就算興建新工廠也不能改變這樣的事實，那就是空客公司已經在它的地盤從鉅額補貼中獲益。或許波音也該在歐洲興建工廠？這件事說起來容易做起來難，因爲歐洲很少有地方能像阿拉巴馬州那樣，將靈活的工作方式和具有南方特色的減稅措施結合的如此完美。
