Christmas arrived on schedule for the U.S. auto industry as a spurt of sales put the wrapping on a surprisingly successful year. Analysts predicted that sales in December could hit a seasonally-adjusted rate of 17 million, which would be the first month at that rate in nearly six years. That would push 2013 sales up to a robust 15.7 million units.

    Welcome as they were, surging sales weren't the biggest news of the year. Detroit celebrated when General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) made Mary Barra the auto industry's first female CEO, then held its breath while Ford (F, Fortune 500) CEO Alan Mulally dithered over a move to Seattle and Microsoft. The old Big Three, complaining about straining available production capacity, made plans to expand and hire. Tesla(TSLA) fired up electric car sales and refused to play by industry's rules, while Google(GOOG, Fortune 500) pioneered a car that drives itself.

    There were reversals too. Sales of electric vehicles suffered as gas prices leveled off and then fell. Suzuki wound down its presence in the U.S. market, and Volvo looked none too healthy. Sales in China -- now the world's largest auto market -- slowed, and Europe remained deep in a slump, its fundamental overcapacity problems unsolved.

    Here are some of the year's pinnacles and potholes:    

    2013年的圣诞节如期而至。对美国汽车工业来说，年底猛增的销量为格外成功的2013年画上了句号。分析师预计，12月销量的季节变动调整年率可能达到1700万辆，这也是近六年来首个达到这一销量的月份。同时，它将使2013年全年销量达到1570万辆的高位。

    尽管销量大幅增长让人欢欣雀跃，但它并不是汽车业今年最重大的新闻。底特律先是因为通用汽车公司（General Motors）提拔玛丽•芭拉出任汽车业首位女性首席执行官而欢欣鼓舞；紧接着，福特汽车（Ford）首席执行官艾伦•穆拉利在重回波音公司还是加入微软公司（Microsoft）两者间犹豫不决之际，它又紧张得大气都不敢喘。传统的三巨头抱怨现有产能已挖掘到极限，开始制订扩张和聘用新人的计划。特斯拉公司（Tesla）让电动汽车的销量火了一把，而且不肯按行规出牌；而同时谷歌公司（Google）则在自动汽车研制上一马当先。

    当然，也有一些不那么乐观的消息。随着油价趋稳并随后下跌后，电动汽车的销量马上就开始受到拖累。铃木汽车（Suzuki）在美国市场上日渐式微，同时沃尔沃（Volvo）看起来也还是无力回天。中国——现在已是全球最大的汽车市场——的销售开始放缓，而欧洲依然在衰退中泥足深陷，汽车业产能过剩的根本性问题还是无法解决。

    下面就是今年汽车业所经历的高峰和低谷：   

    Busting through the glass ceiling

    In being named CEO, Mary Barra broke through several historical barriers in moving from GM's third-most powerful executive position to its first. Her job was made both easier by the appointment of a non-executive chairman to handle the board of directors, and more difficult by the decision to give her old job to one of her rivals. As the first product engineer to head the company in two decades, she will be deluged with suggestions about everything from air conditioning vents in new pickups to the future of brands like Buick and Chevrolet.

    成功突破玻璃天花板

    玛丽•芭拉从通用汽车的第三把交椅升至第一把交椅，获得首席执行官提名，这一路上她突破了好几个历史性障碍。一方面，通过任命一位非执行主席掌管董事会，她能更容易打开工作局面；但另一方面，由于一位对手接手了她以前的职责，她现在的工作又变得更棘手了。她是二十年来首位掌管公司的产品工程师，各种建议势必将纷至沓来，令人应接不暇。这些建议小到新皮卡上的空调出风口，大到别克（Buick）和雪佛兰（Chevrolet）这些品牌的前景，无所不包。

    Most popular vehicle

    Ford's F-series pickup, the reigning champion for the last quarter-century, held off a strong challenge from Chevrolet's redesigned Silverado to remain the nation's No. 1 selling vehicle. The race to become the best-selling car, an all-Japanese final, belonged again to the Toyota (TM) Camry, which beat out the Honda (HMC) Accord.

    最畅销车型

    作为过去二十五年来的常胜将军、福特的F系列皮卡一直成功地抵挡住了雪佛兰重新设计的西尔维拉多（Silverado）的挑战，盘踞着美国最畅销皮卡的宝座。而全是日本品牌角逐的最畅销汽车决赛，丰田（Toyota）凯美瑞（Camry）再次成功击败本田（Honda）雅阁（Accord），摘得冠军头衔。

    Fastest-growing volume brand

    Juiced by the redesigned Forester crossover, Subaru saw its sales climb 28%. It broke its previous annual record with two months left and recorded its fifth consecutive yearly increase. Kia, formerly a hot performer, slumped despite seven new or refreshed models. Its sales fell 3% in an overall market that had risen 8% through November, the worst showing for any top 10 brand.

    增长最快品牌

    斯巴鲁（Subaru）的销量在全新设计的森林人（Forester）酷越车大力推动下攀升了28%。它今年前十个月就打破了去年的销量纪录，还连续第五年保持了增长。而一度算是热门选手的起亚（Kia）尽管拥有七款全新或改款车型，销量却出现了下滑。在11月整个市场增长8%的背景下，起亚的销量却下滑了3%，表现在前十大品牌中垫底。

    Fastest-growing luxury brand

    Jaguar continued its remarkable comeback under the ownership of India's Tata by pushing its sales up 41%. A burst of activity around the F-type sports car helped, but the real boost came from the revived XF sedan, which added four- and six-cylinder models and all-wheel- drive. Nissan's Infiniti, now headquartered in Hong Kong and beginning a multi-year turnaround, watched its sales drop 4% after renaming all its models with alpha-numerics beginning with the letter "Q."   

    增长最快豪华品牌

    捷豹（Jaguar）在印度塔塔集团（Tata）麾下继续演绎着王者归来的传奇，销量猛增了41%。围绕F型运动轿车的系列活动对此颇有助力，但真正的推动力来自凤凰涅槃的XF轿车，它新推出的四缸和六缸车型及全时四驱才是幕后功臣。日产（Nissan）英菲尼迪现在将总部迁到了香港，打算在接下来的数年里重振雄风，但在它将全系车型用“Q”打头的字母数字形式重新命名后，销量却下滑了4%。

    U-turns

    On his way out the door as CEO, Dan Akerson took care of some unfinished business, reversing some old decisions:

    • After 82 years in Australia, GM said high costs would halt engine and vehicle production at its Holden subsidiary, leaving Toyota as the last manufacturer on the continent.

    • After nine years of selling Korean-made Chevrolets in Europe, Akerson decided 1) the cars weren't catching on with customers; and 2) were stealing sales from Opel, which needs the business. So GM is stopping sales and will take a charge of up to $1 billion.

    • After 14 months of working with Peugeot to save money in purchasing and new model development, GM sold its 7% stage at a loss of $82 million and said the scale of cooperation would be greatly reduced.

    急转弯

    丹•埃克森卸任首席执行官一职后，继续对一些收尾工作做好安排，同时彻底改变了一些原有的决策：

     在澳大利亚经营了82年后，通用汽车表示由于成本过高，霍顿分公司的引擎和整车生产将停产，结果使得丰田成了澳洲最后一家汽车厂商。

     在欧洲卖了九年的韩国产雪佛兰后，埃克森认定：1）这款车对客户毫无吸引力；2）它一直导致欧宝（Opel）销量的流失，而欧宝恰恰需要这个市场。因此通用决定不再销售该车，而退出欧洲市场的费用将高达10亿美元。

     通用曾经为了节约采购及新车型研发开支而与标致汽车（Peugeot）合作。如今，合作14个月后，通用以8200万美元的损失出售了它7%的股份，同时表示双方的合作范围将大幅缩小。

    Mark my words

    In January, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Alfa Romeo would return to the U.S. in 2013 "for sure." In September, a Fiat executive told USA Today the car would "definitely arrive by year-end." Later in the month, a Fiat spokesman said the first car, a lightweight sports car called the 4C, wouldn't arrive until the second quarter of 2014. Anyone can make mistakes: In May 2011, I wrote that Alfa would be back in the U.S. "later in the year."   

    谁能不糊涂？

    今年1月，菲亚特-克莱斯勒公司（Fiat-Chrysler）首席执行官塞尔吉奥•马尔乔内表示，阿尔法•罗密欧（Alfa Romeo）2013年“肯定会”重返美国市场。到了9月，菲亚特一名高管向《今日美国》（ USA Today）表示，这款车“肯定”会“年底登陆美国”。当月晚些时候，菲亚特的发言人表示，名为4C的首款轻型跑车要到2014年的第二季度才能上市。不过谁都难免会犯糊涂：2011年5月我就写过，阿尔法将会在“当年末”重返美国市场。

    Tone deaf

    Volkswagen, which is often suspected of having a tin ear when it comes to understanding the U.S. market, announced it is replacing the British executive in charge of sales, Jonathan Browning, with a German, Michael Horn. VW's U.S. sales slump in 2013, down 5%, was widely forecast because its two core models, the Passat (above) and Jetta, are aging and the new Golf will be two years old before VW gets around introducing it to the U.S. market.

    车界聋子

    大众汽车（Volkswagen）经常被大家质疑在理解美国市场上有点耳背。今年它宣布将把英国的营销高管约翰森•布朗宁撤换成一个名叫迈克尔•霍恩的德国人。大众2013年在美国的销量下跌了5%，业内其实早已对此做出过预测，因为它的两款核心车型帕萨特（Passat）（见上图）和捷达（Jetta）都已经有年头了，而全新高尔夫（Golf）在大众准备推向美国市场时也早已上市两年了。

    Selfies in executive search

    Renault's chief operating officer at Renault, Carlos Tavares, declared in August that since his boss, Carlos Ghosn, wasn't going anywhere, he, Tavares, was available for a promotion to run General Motors or Ford. Two weeks later, Tavares resigned his Renault job "to pursue other personal projects." But in November, Peugeot, Renault's French rival, announced that Tavares would join the company as CEO in 2014.

    自卖自夸的高管

    今年8月，雷诺（Renault）首席运营官卡洛斯•塔瓦雷斯宣布，因为他的老板卡洛斯•戈恩不打算挪窝，所以他本人可以出来掌管通用汽车或福特汽车。两周后，塔瓦雷斯就辞掉了雷诺的职位，“去追求其他个人抱负”。但到了11月，雷诺在法国的老对头标致却宣布，塔瓦雷斯2014年将出任公司的首席执行官。

    Quality is Job 1

    In June, Chrysler owned up to legacy design issues when it recalled 2.6 million 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-2007 Liberty models (2007 above) due to a potential fuel-system problem that could cause fires in a rear-end crash. But it was modern-day faults that flummoxed Ford, which recalled the Escape for the seventh time since the popular crossover was redesigned in 2013. One of the seven recalls was to fix problems caused by repairs for a previous recall.

    品质第一

    今年6月，克莱斯勒公司（Chrysler）终于承认了一个历史遗留的设计问题。它召回了260万辆1993-2004年间生产的吉普大切诺基（Jeep Grand Cherokees）和2002-2007年生产的自由者（Liberty，见上图），因为这些车的燃油系统存在隐患，发生追尾事故时可能引发火灾。但这类问题迄今还在困扰着福特这样的老牌厂商。自从大受追捧的翼虎（Escape）2013年经过全新设计上市后，它已经第七次被召回了。这七次中有一次就是为了修复上一次召回引起的新问题。

    Sorry is the hardest word

    In August, Ford apologized for overstating the fuel economy of the C-Max crossover (above) by four miles per gallon and said it would reimburse owners $550 for "good will." That topped the offer from Hyundai and Kia, which apologized for "procedural errors" that led them to overstate fuel economy in some models by one mile per gallon. The Korean brands said they would reimburse customers for the difference between the actual and stated mileage plus 15% for inconvenience: an average of $88 per owner.

    说声抱歉可真难

    8月，福特因为把C-Max酷越车（见上图）的标称油耗每加仑说多了4英里而公开道歉，同时表示将出于“好意”退给每位车主550美元。这一大方出手立刻就盖过了现代汽车（Hyundai）和起亚，这两家因为所谓的“程序误差”而把自己一些车型的标称油耗每加仑说多了一英里。它们为此提出的赔偿方案是，将基于实际英里数和标称英里数的差异，再加因此给车主带来麻烦而多赔的15%：平均算下来每个车主到手也就88美元左右。

    Walking dead

    Fisker declared bankruptcy in November after burning through $1.4 billion -- one-third of it from the federal government -- while selling only about 1,800 copies of the $103,000 Karma plug-in hybrid. Its remains were sold to an investor group headed by a Hong Kong businessman who bought the company for pennies on the dollar. The group plans to resume production of the Karma (above) and other hybrids in the future. Meanwhile Saab, which went bankrupt in 2011 and hasn't built a car in two years, started up production in December of the old 9-3 sedan under its new owner, National Electric Vehicle Sweden. It plans to make 10 cars a week, mostly for sale in China, home of its 22% owner, the city of Qingdao.

    行尸走肉

    11月，菲斯克公司（Fisker）在烧光了14亿美元——其中三分之一来自美国政府——后宣告破产，它那款标价103,000美元的插电式混动车Karma只卖出了1,800辆。剩下的车都卖给了一家香港老板当家的投资集团，他没花多少钱就收购了菲斯克公司。这个集团打算今后继续生产Karma（见上图）和其他混动车。与此同时，2011年破产且这两年一辆车都没生产的萨博汽车（Saab）在新东家瑞典国家电动车公司（National Electric Vehicle Sweden）主导下，12月开始重新投产老款9-3汽车。它计划落户青岛，每周生产10辆车，这些车基本上主打中国市场，因为22%的萨博车主都来自中国。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远