作为日产汽车（Nissan Motor）旗下的豪车品牌，英菲尼迪（Infiniti）一直以来都在拖后腿。现在日产挖来了原奥迪（Audi）美国分公司的负责人，或许终于可以让这个品牌扬眉吐气了。

    在过去19年里，约翰•德•尼琛一直是奥迪在美国的负责人。近日，日产CEO卡洛斯•高森将他挖至麾下。尼琛将在英菲尼迪的香港总部负责该品牌的全球运营。当然，他的任务里有相当大的一部分，是要使英菲尼迪在全球增长最快的汽车市场——也就是中国——占有一席之地。高森从奥迪挖人其实并没有什么好奇怪的。“英菲尼迪一直以来都患有‘奥迪嫉妒症’”，汽车网站Edmunds.com的分析师米歇尔•克雷布斯指出：“奥迪正是英菲尼迪一直想成为的那种年轻、时尚的品牌。另外奥迪也是成功的德系豪华车品牌中的一颗新星。”而英菲尼迪在与丰田（Toyota）的豪车品牌雷克萨斯（Lexus）的竞争中一直落于下风。

    评测者一般都会对英菲尼迪给出很高的评价，不过在经销商门店里，英菲尼迪却没法吸引富人们像对待梅赛德斯-奔驰（Mercedes）、宝马（BMW）、奥迪和雷克萨斯（Lexus）那样一掷千金。英菲尼迪的营销本来就没有给人留下什么深刻的印象，现在更是变得松散无力。

    德•尼琛曾经带领困境重重的美国奥迪实现复兴，他完成了他的前任们都没能完成的任务。尼琛的美国奥迪复兴之路离不开系统的规划和执行，这个案例将来很可能会成为汽车高管们研究的对象。虽然在奥迪的老家欧洲，奥迪一直被视为与宝马和奔驰同一档次的品牌，但就在距今不久之前，奥迪在美国的认知度还颇为有限。尼琛堪称是奥迪在美国实现品牌重塑的总战略设计师。

    外界认为尼琛是一位固执的、毫不妥协的管理者，这样的个性未必会受美国经销商的喜欢。比如一般来说，经销商要求的车型数量总是多于公司想要提供的数量。但是在尼琛的领导下，美国奥迪决定小心地控制奥迪的稀缺性和增长速度，以便保持品牌的高端地位，避免出现通用凯迪拉克（Cadillac）和福特林肯（Lincoln）那种因为打折而损害销量的事。

    在上世纪80年代末，由于有车主指责奥迪的旗舰车型奥迪5000存在突然加速的隐患，因而在6年的时间里，奥迪在美销量骤跌80%以上。事实上相关指责从来没有被证实过，不过奥迪还是增加了一些相应的安全配置，并且调整了踏板的布局。因为据说在此之前，奥迪车的踏板总是让驾驶员觉得他的脚正踩在刹车上，而不是踩在油门上。

    By poaching the head of Audi in the U.S., Nissan Motor may finally have found the key executive to lead the turnaround of Infiniti, the Japanese automaker's perennially lagging luxury division.

    Johan de Nysschen, who ran Audi in the U.S. for the last 19 years, was recruited by none other than Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's magnetic CEO. De Nysschen will run Infiniti worldwide from its new Hong Kong headquarters. Not surprisingly, a big part of his mission to make Infiniti relevant in the world's biggest automotive growth market, China.

    That Ghosn would pluck somebody for the German automaker is not much of a surprise. "Infiniti has had 'Audi envy' forever," said Michelle Krebs, automotive analyst for Edmunds.com, an automotive website. "Audi is the younger, hipper brand that Infiniti has wanted to be. Audi also was the upstart among the more successful German luxury brands," just as Infiniti has been an also-ran to Lexus, Toyota's luxury division.

    Reviewers have often rated Infiniti models highly, though no one at the franchise has ever been able to unlock the intangibles of prestige and desirability that motivate well-heeled buyers to pay the same high prices captured by Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Lexus. Infiniti marketing has careened from forgettable to incoherent.

    Enter De Nysschen, who led the resurgence of a troubled Audi after predecessors floundered. He led a methodically planned and executed renaissance of the brand in the U.S. which is likely to be a case study for future automotive executives. Though in its native Europe Audi has long been seen in league with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, in America its perception until recently lagged. De Nysschen was the architect of a grand strategy that remedied that.

    De Nysschen is known as a tenacious and uncompromising manager, not necessarily a favorite of U.S. dealers. For instance, dealers routinely demanded more Audis and different models than what the company was willing to supply. But Audi, under De Nysschen's guidance, has determined to control scarcity and growth meticulously so as to maintain the brand's prestige status and avoid the discounting that has hurt franchises like General Motors' (GM) Cadillac and Ford's (F) Lincoln.

    During a six-year period in the late 1980s, Audi's sales in the U.S. plunged more than 80% amid accusations that its flagship Audi 5000 was prone to unintended acceleration. The accusations were never confirmed, though Audi added some safety features as a result and changed the placement of foot pedals that were thought to lead some drivers to assume their foot was on the brake rather than the accelerator.

    在90年代初销量探底后，奥迪的销量开始缓慢回升，直到2004到2005年才迈入快速增长阶段。这主要归功于尼琛和他的团队改变了业务模式，减少了铺货数量。另外他还取消了较大的销售折扣，以鼓励租赁的方式取而代之。这样一来，奥迪的定价和品牌声望都得到了改善，最终吸引了更多的消费者，也提升了销量。奥迪适时推出的大量新车型也没有伤害到尼琛的“饥饿营销”策略。这些新车型以2006年的奥迪R8跑车的推出达到顶点，它也标志着奥迪品牌的复兴之路达到了顶峰。

    尼琛是南非人。6月初他向奥迪员工发送了一封电子邮件，否认了他的离职与大众公司（Volkswagen）和奥迪的高层地震有任何关系。奥迪的高管们向尼琛赠送了一个具有纪念意义的奥迪A4方向盘，算是批准了他与奥迪的和平分手。

    可以明显看出，日产和大众两家公司都为未来几年制定了雄心勃勃的增长目标，而且他们无疑都想卖出更多的豪华车型。奥迪已经表示，计划截止到2018年，将奥迪在美国的年销量由去年的117,561台（比2010年提高16%）提高到20万台。英菲尼迪则计划到2016年前使全球销量达到现在的三倍，也就是从去年的15万辆增长到约50万辆。

    目前美国是英菲尼迪最重要的市场——不过未来中国很可能会取而代之，正如中国现在已经成了奥迪最重要的市场。英菲尼迪计划从2014年开始，与一家中资伙伴共同在华生产两款车型。

    尼琛的跳槽还将泛起一些涟漪。在他离开奥迪后，曾经在奔驰服务过的斯科特•基奥或许有望接替他的位子，他要在尼琛的基础上继续打造这个品牌。现在，尼琛和基奥一定都在互相猜测对方的下一步棋，同时努力实现各自雄心勃勃的销量目标。

    译者：朴成奎

    After hitting rock bottom in the early 1990s, Audi sales slowly began to recover. But the franchise didn't really take off until 2004 to 2005, when De Nysshen and his team changed the business model, reducing the number of units available. He also did away with deep discounts in the form of incentivized leases. Pricing and prestige improved, which eventually brought more buyers to showrooms and lifted sales. A raft of well-timed new models didn't hurt either; Audi unveiled a series of glitzy new vehicles that culminated in the 2006 release of the R8, a steroidal sports car that seemed a capstone on the brand's turnaround.

    A native South African, de Nysschen sent an email to Audi employees earlier this month denying that his departure was related to a broad and simultaneous shakeup across VW and in Audi's top management in Ingolstadt, Germany. Fellow Audi executives more or less ratified the amicable departure by presenting him with a ceremonial steering wheel from an Audi A4, which had owned early in his career.

    What's clear is that Nissan and VW have both set ambitious growth targets over the next few years, which presume much higher luxury sales. Audi has said it wants to sell 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. by 2018, up from 117,561 last year, a 16% gain from 2010. Infiniti intends to more than triple its global sales by 2016 to half a million from about 150,000 worldwide last year.

    Infiniti's most important market for now is the U.S. – but China could be tops, as it is currently for Audi. Infiniti plans to start manufacturing two Infiniti models in China in 2014 with a Chinese partner.

    But there is another wrinkle. De Nysschen's exit from Audi, Volkswagen's luxury brand, opened the way for the promotion of Scott Keogh, a one-time Mercedes executive, who will face the task of building upon De Nysschen's impressive stewardship of a once troubled brand. Now, De Nysschen and Keogh are bound to be imagining one another's next moves -- even as they try to fulfill their own ambitious sales goals.