CEOs

    Winner

    Despite GM’s ongoing woes, almost nobody has an unkind word for CEO Mary Barra, including TIME and Fortune. Even Barra’s 2025 strategy for consolidating platforms, a goal GM GM -1.65% has sought since the 1980s, has gotten favorable notice. Let’s see what happens when the new wears off. As Barra undoubtedly knows, strategy talk is cheap at GM; it is the execution that counts.

    Loser

    A German court revived criminal charges against former Porsche CEO WendelinWiedeking and ex-CFO HolgerHaerter involving a failed 2008 takeover of Volkswagen AG. Wiedeking was hailed as a genius after Porsche’s turnaround in the 1990s. But the court said Porsche’s board may have approved the deal seven months before the company announced its intentions, making the two men guilty of market manipulation under German law.

    Executives

    Winners

    Before he left Audi of America in 2012, Johan de Nysschen made many of the decisions on marketing, distribution, and product content that have made Audi one of the hottest luxury brands. Of course, today’s management is taking the bows, but autos are a long lead-time business, and it was de Nysschen who laid the groundwork for 2014’s success.

    Losers

    Now at Cadillac GM -1.65% , which he joined in July, de Nysschen has been assailed by traditionalists for his decision to change the brand’s alpha-numeric naming structure and to move its global headquarters from Detroit to New York City. Clearly peeved, de Nysschenwent on Facebook to strike back at every “armchair marketing expert” and blasted GM retirees who called the New York move “the dumbest idea since the Cimarron. ”DeNysschen wondered sarcastically whether any of them “had a hand in creating that masterful monument to product substance.”

    Investors

    Winner

    Despite a big hit in September when Ford F -1.81% warned that operating profits would come in $1 billion less than forecast, its shares are down only 5.9% this year. It might be doing even better were it not for investor worries about losses in Europe and South America as well as customer reception for the new aluminum pickup truck.

    Loser

    GM shares have yet to recover from the recall crisis earlier this year and have lost nearly a fifth of their value since January 1. “General Motors looks like it is struggling to get its act together,” wrote one commentator on Seeking Alpha. “We continue to want nothing to do with the company.”

    首席执行官

    赢家

    尽管通用汽车（GM）目前仍深陷舆论漩涡，但包括《时代》杂志（Time）和《财富》杂志（Fortune）在内的各路媒体对首席执行官玛丽•芭拉却几乎毫无微词。就连芭拉定下的2025年整合平台战略——这是通用从1980年代以来就致力实现的目标——也颇受好评。等到舆论平息下来后，再看看情况如何吧。因为芭拉心知肚明，空谈战略在通用不值一提，执行才真正算数。

    输家

    德国一家法院收到了一桩针对保时捷公司（Porsche）前首席执行官文德林•魏德金及前首席财务官霍尔格•黑特的犯罪指控。起诉书称，在保时捷2008年向大众汽车集团（Volkswagen AG）发起的那场最终失败的收购案中，他们两人涉嫌触犯法律。1990年代，当保时捷的业绩复苏后，魏德金曾一度被奉为天才。但该法庭表示，保时捷董事会可能在该公司宣布收购意向的7个月前就批准了这项收购计划。这意味着，按照德国法律，他们犯有市场操纵罪。

    高管

    赢家

    在2012年离开奥迪美国公司(Audi of America)之前，约翰•德•尼琛做了很多重大决策，涉及市场营销、分销和产品内容等，正是这些决策使奥迪现在成为最炙手可热的豪华品牌之一。目前执掌大局当然是现在的管理层，但汽车业是个需要长期准备的行业，正是尼琛为奥迪2014年的成功奠定了坚实基础。

    输家

    今年7月转投凯迪拉克公司（Cadillac）之后，德•尼琛的诸多决策遭到传统主义者的猛烈攻击，比如，他改变了该品牌的字母数字命名结构，并将全球总部从底特律搬到纽约。这些批评声音显然惹得他大为光火，他在Facebook上对那些“闭门造车的营销专家”反唇相讥，同时毫不客气地抨击通用汽车的退休老员工——正是这些人声称，把总部迁至纽约是该公司“自推出西马仑牌（Cimarron）汽车以来最蠢的主意”。此外，他还不无讽刺地质疑，这些指责者中是否有人“真正参与过这款工艺精湛的大师级豪车的创造过程”。

    投资者

    赢家

    福特公司（Ford）九月发出预警称，营业利润将比预期少10亿美元。尽管资本市场为此深受打击，但福特的股价今年以来却仅仅下跌了5.9%而已。如果不是因为投资者担忧福特在欧洲和南美的亏损，以及消费者对全新铝制外壳皮卡的接受程度，福特的股价表现可能还会更好。

    输家

    通用汽车的市场份额仍然有待从今年初的召回危机中恢复过来。此外，自1月1日以来，该公司市值已损失近五分之一。有人在财经博客Seeking Alpha上评论道：“通用汽车似乎正在努力使其行动一致起来。我们继续不愿意和这家公司沾边。”

    Brands

    Winners

    Jeep added 1.2 points of share this year thanks to the incremental lift from the new Cherokee and it will get another boost in 2015 from the Fiat-based Renegade.

    Losers

    Ford division lost .9 points while it waits for sales from new pickup truck and sporty car models to kick in.

    Segments

    Winners

    Stable and falling gas prices have stripped the pretense from American buying habits: Given a choice, they prefer trucks. In September, sales of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup rose 54% and the Dodge Ram 30%. Overall, for the first nine months of 2015, truck sales climbed 10%.

    Losers

    In an overall industry up 6% in 2014, car sales rose only 1%, according to Automotive News. Some segments actually lost ground. In the absence of noteworthy new models, full-size cars like the Toyota Avalon TM -1.14% were down 6%.

    Plants

    Winner

    Ford will hire more than 1,000 people for its Oakville, Canada assembly plant in preparation for the launch of its 2015 Edge crossover. The hiring is something of a mixed economic blessing: Ford is getting $140 million in government subsidies, and about half of the new jobs will come at the expense of outside suppliers who had previously performed them

    Loser

    FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne cast doubt on the future of Chrysler’s historic Toledo plant, where Jeeps have been built since 1941. Marchionne said the body-on-frame plant would require an expensive overhaul that would make it uneconomic to build the 2017 Wrangler with its unibody construction.

    Dealers

    Winners

    All those investors in AutoNation, Penske Automotive, Group 1 and other publicly owned dealer groups who saw their holdings take a nice upward bounce after Warren Buffett disclosed he had purchased the Van Tuyl Group, the fifth-largest U.S. auto retailer. The speed-up of consolidation following Buffett’s deal should make help stockholders lock in those gains.

    Losers

    All those remaining mom-and-pop dealers who will be going up against yet another smart operator in Buffett with scale efficiencies and greater access to capital. Small stores will find it hard to compete against the giants’ automated processes, standardized business practices, and national brands armed mostly with superior knowledge of the local market.

    品牌

    赢家

    拜新款切诺基（Cherokee）改款所赐，吉普（Jeep）今年的市场份额提高了1.2个百分点。2015年，在推出基于菲亚特平台的自由侠（Renegade）后，它的份额还将有所提升。

    输家

    在等待新款皮卡销量增长及运动型轿车上市销售的过程中，福特的市场占有率损失了0.9个百分点。

    细分市场

    赢家

    稳中有跌的油价让美国人在买车时不再假装喜欢节能环保：只要有得选，他们就会更青睐皮卡。9月份，雪佛兰西尔维拉多皮卡（Chevrolet Silverado）销量增长了54%，道奇公羊（DodgeRam）则增长了30%。总体来看，2015年前9个月里，皮卡的销量增长了10%。

    输家

    《汽车新闻》（Automotive News）报道称，在2014年全行业销售普涨6%的情况下，轿车销售的增幅仅为1%。其中有些细分车型实际上已阵地难保。在缺乏值得关注的新车型背景下，像丰田亚洲龙（Avalon）这样的全尺寸大型轿车销售下降了6%。

    工厂

    赢家

    为了推出2015款锐界（Edge）酷越车，福特位于加拿大奥克维尔的组装厂将雇佣一千多人。不过，从它对经济的带动这个角度看，这次大招聘却让人喜忧参半：福特即将获得高达1.4亿美元的政府补贴，此外，这次招聘中约有半数新岗位将会取代原来完成类似任务的外部供应商。

    输家

    早在1941年，克莱斯勒的托莱多工厂就开始生产吉普轿车，但菲亚特克莱斯勒汽车公司（FCA）CEO塞尔吉奥•马尔基翁对这座拥有悠久历史的工厂的未来产生了疑虑。马尔基翁称，这座平台工厂需要斥巨资改建，这就使得在这里生产拥有单片式车身的2017款牧马人（Wrangler）很不经济。

    经销商

    赢家

    沃伦•巴菲特宣布收购全美第五大汽车经销商范图尔集团（Van Tuyl Group）的消息，带动全美汽车租赁公司（Auto Nation）、潘世奇汽车集团（Penske Automotive）、Group 1公司等上市经销商的股价普遍上涨。巴菲特完成这笔收购后，汽车经销业势必会加速整合，这应该有助于投资者锁定这些收益。

    输家

    那些还维持着夫妻店模式的经销商们又多了一个聪明的竞争对手。在巴菲特的支持下，它不仅拥有规模效益，还能更容易筹到大笔资金。那些规模较小的经销店会发现，它们很难抗衡这些拥有全自动流程、标准化商业操作，以及深谙当地市场的全国性品牌的汽车经销巨头。

    Year-end awards

    Winners

    Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen Group each placed three entries on the short list for North American Car and Truck of the year honors. The awards, voted by a jury of 50 automotive journalists (of which I was a charter member), have gained in importance in recent years and are fiercely contested.

    Losers

    GM, Toyota, VW, and every other automaker on the short list, none of whom stands a chance this year against Ford. Its entries are Mustang and F-150, both of which have been redesigned for 2015 and are adored by the motoring press. You could skip the voting and engrave the winners’ trophies today with the names of these two hometown favorites.

    Historic echoes

    Winner

    Detlev von Platen, CEO of Porsche Cars North America, was channeling former GM CEO Roger Smith at the Paris auto show recently. When asked whether Porsche would develop a more affordable entry-level car, von Platen replied, “Our entry model is our pre-owned program.” His comment recalled Smith’s memorable advice to American consumers in 1988 when asked how they should react to low-priced Japanese imports. Said Smith: They should “buy a used Buick” “

    Loser

    Was Mary Barra channeling former boss, GM CEO Jack Smith, when she announced a global profit goal of 9-10% percent early next decade in her 2025 strategy announcement? Back in the early 1990s, Smith set a five percent profit margin goal and maintained it until his term ended in 2000. Note to Barra: GM never came close to reaching the target, and Smith’s successor quietly dropped it.

    年终大奖

    赢家

    福特、通用、丰田和大众集团在北美年度汽车和皮卡大奖榜单上各有三款车上榜。这些奖项是由50位汽车记者组成的评审团（本人是创始会员）评出的，近年来在业界的地位日益重要，角逐非常激烈。

    输家

    在这张榜单上，无论是通用、丰田、大众、还是其他厂商，今年都无法跟福特相抗衡。福特上榜的两款车型是野马（Mustang）和F-150，这两款车的2015版都进行了全新设计，饱受汽车媒体界的钟爱。您完全可以跳过投票，今天就可以用这两款美国本土车型的名称来雕刻获胜者奖杯。

    历史回声

    赢家

    保时捷北美公司首席执行官德特勒夫•冯•普拉滕在最近举办的巴黎车展上的言论，可谓与通用汽车前首席执行官罗杰•史密斯的一番话遥相呼应。被问及保时捷是否会开发更便宜的入门级车型时，冯•普拉滕回应道：“我们的入门车就是二手车项目。”这番高论让人想起了史密斯1988年送给美国消费者的经典建议，当时，被问及应该如何应对廉价日本进口车的挑战时，他说：他们应该“买辆二手别克（Buick）”。

    输家

    玛丽•芭拉在2025年战略发布中称，下一个十年初期，通用的全球利润率目标为9-10%。她是否在借此呼应自己的前辈杰克•史密斯？早在1990年代初，时任通用汽车CEO史密斯就制订了一个5%的利润率目标，并将这一目标维持到其任期结束的2000年。需要提醒芭拉的是：通用从来就没有真正接近过这个目标，而且已经被史密斯的继任者悄无声息地放弃了。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远