評論
打印
Reporter: How does it feel to lose the top spot on your watch?
記者：通用汽車失去了其世界頂級汽車品牌的地位，對此您感受如何呢？
Wagoner: It’s not something we’d relish. We’ve been number one in the world for 75 years, and we want to keep that going. That’ll be determined out on the playing field. If they pass us, we’ll get up the next day and go after them. I wouldn’t like it. But if it happens, I’m not going to quit the next morning. But would it bother me? Sure. I’m a competitive guy. I don’t like losing at anything.
瓦格納：那是我們不希望發生的事情。我們已經連續75年位居世界第一，我們想要一直保持下去。就像是要在運動場上決出勝負，如果他們超過了我們，那么我們在第二天就會繼續起來去追趕他們。但其實我不喜歡那樣。如果那樣的事情真的發生了，那我一定不會在第二天早上就退出。那會使我煩惱嗎？那是一定的。我是一個好競爭的人，我不希望在任何方面失敗。
Reporter: With all the challenges facing you, what tops your priority list?
記者：你們現在面臨著很多挑戰，那么你們最優先考慮的事情是什么呢？
Wagoner: We need to drive revenue growth. Frankly, that’s hard to do in a weak market, but that’s what is really going to emphasize the extent of the changes we made and translate our improvements in products, quality and manufacturing into better financial results.
瓦格納：我們要使收益有所增長，坦白的說，這在一個疲軟的市場環境之中很難做到，但是那才能更加肯定我們所作出的調整，我們在產品質量、制造方面的提高，最終表現為經濟收益的增長。
Reporter: How do you do that?
記者：您是怎樣做的呢？
Wagoner: We’ve cut $9 billion in fixed costs through plant consolidation and job cuts, and think we can cut another $5 billion or so over the next three years with lower health care, pension and labor costs with the new United Auto Workers agreement.
瓦格納：我們通過工廠合并和裁員使固定成本減少了90億美元，并且我們認為，根據新的汽車工人聯合會協議，衛生醫療、退休金和人工成本將會更低，那么在接下來的3年時間里，我們還能夠繼續減少大約50億美元的成本。
Reporter: A lot of people are talking about a US recession. Can the great American automaker still turn things around?
記者：很多人現在都在談論美國經濟蕭條，偉大的美國汽車制造商有辦法使這種形勢有所好轉嗎？
Wagoner: Sure. There are a number of things that will play out over the next couple of years that should improve our earnings. When we complete the 2007 labor agreement，we will get $4 billion to $5 billion in savings, a half billion when our supplier Delphi gets out of bankruptcy, and if the US industry gets back to average sales, that will be $1 billion to $1.5 billion, conservatively. We don’t have the profitability we want, but we are improving our cash flow. So even in a very difficult US environment, help is on its way. But we’re not waiting for help to get here. We are coming up with other ways to improve our cost structure, including a buyout offer for US.
瓦格納：當然會有的。在接下來的幾年時間里，我們可以做很多事情來提高我們的收入。當我們完成2007勞資協議的時候，我們可以得到40—50億的儲蓄；當我們的供應商特爾斐脫離破產的困境時，我們可以得到50億美元；當美國產業恢復到平均銷售額時，保守來說，我們將得到10—15億美元。我們現在并沒有達到希望的利益率，但是我們正在努力提高現金流轉速度。所以即使美國現在處于一個很困難的時期，我們也會得到一些幫助。但我們沒有等著靠幫助實現目標，我們也將采取其他的方法來改善我們的費用結構，包括讓國家來購買我們的股份。
Reporter: A lot of people have pointed to last year's loss as a sign that execution hasn’t come through.
記者：很多人都將公司去年的損失看做是管理不善的結果。
Wagoner: Nothing could be further from the truth. If anyone is interpreting that, they are not looking at the data. It’s clear the loss was driven by an accounting requirement, and a significant loss in GMAC business. Behind those the automotive business continued to show significant improvements, and North America produced 300,000 fewer units and still showed improvement in earnings. That’s worth a huge amount of money and highlights that we’re doing what we said we would. We’ve executed well, and on top of that, product momentum is moving nicely.
瓦格納：不是那樣的。如果有人那樣說的話，那他們一定沒有去看數據。很明顯，損失純粹是由于金融需求而造成的，那導致通用汽車金融公司面臨了很嚴重的損失。緊接著，汽車產業就不斷呈現改善的趨勢，北美僅制造了30萬輛汽車，但是他們的盈利仍然是增加了。那樣的投資很值得，并且向大家展示了我們正在做以前說過要做的事情。我們執行的很好，并且除此之外，產品沖力也發展的很好。
Reporter: GM will have—
記者：通用汽車將會有……
Wagoner: GM will have eight different hybrid models. And I think in things like flex fuel, you know, we’ve committed to have 50 percent of our production flex— fuel capable by 2012. So, if you add all those up, I think over the next several years, we’re going to feel this thing shifting. Is it all going to be done in five or 10 years? That’s probably an overstatement, but we’re going to be moving on a different path than it feels like we’ve been on for the last five years as an industry.
瓦格納：通用汽車將會有關于混合燃料的8輛氫燃料動力汽車模型，你知道在2012年我們將達到50%的產品都使用混合燃料。所以如果把這也算入內的話，在接下來幾年的時間內，我們就會感受到事情有所改變。那在5年或者10年的時間內會全部實現嗎？那可能是大話，但是作為一個產業，與近5年相比，我們會走上一條不同的道路。
