【大众汽车在中国市场难以守住阵地】


Volkswagen has failed to win ground from key rivals such as Tesla and BYD in China, despite spending €5bn last year to defend its position in the world’s biggest car market.

尽管大众汽车去年为保卫自己在中国的市场地位投资50亿欧元，但它未能在这个世界最大汽车市场上从特斯拉和比亚迪等主要竞争对手手中夺取地盘。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


The company, which also owns brands including Audi and Porsche, said on Tuesday that its sales in China rose 1.6 per cent last year. That compared to 5.6 per cent overall growth in the market reported by the China Passenger Car Association.

该公司周二表示，去年其在华销量增长1.6%。该公司还拥有奥迪和保时捷等品牌。相比之下，中国乘用车市场信息联席会报告称，去年中国乘用车市场整体增速为5.6%。

In the critical electric vehicle segment, VW recorded 23 per cent growth, compared with 36 per cent across China’s EV market.

在关键的电动汽车领域，大众汽车实现了23%的增长，而中国电动汽车市场的整体增速为36%。

Ralf Brandstätter, VW’s board member for China, said the company had maintained a “robust position despite a challenging market” adding that he expected the “situation [to] remain demanding over the next two years”.

大众汽车负责中国业务的董事会成员贝瑞德表示，“尽管市场充满挑战”，但该公司保持了“稳健的地位”，并补充称，他预计“未来两年形势仍将严峻”。

The VW figures came the day after General Motors reported that the US had once again become the carmaker’s biggest market after China, for the first time since 2009. Its sales in China fell by 8.7 per cent last year to 2.1mn, while US sales rose by 14 per cent to 2.6mn.

大众汽车公布上述数据的前一天，通用汽车报告称，美国市场超越中国，再度成为通用汽车的最大市场，这是2009年以来的头一次。去年，通用汽车在中国的销量下降8.7%，至210万辆，而在美国的销量增长14%，至260万辆。

VW and GM are two of the largest established carmakers operating in China but alongside their rivals across Europe, Japan and the US, all are struggling to maintain their position in the Chinese car market.

在拥有在华业务的老牌汽车制造商中，大众汽车和通用汽车都属于规模最大的之列，但与它们的欧洲、日本和美国竞争对手一样，两家公司都难以维持各自在中国汽车市场的地位。

The market share of foreign brands in China had fallen to about 44 per cent by December, from 64 per cent in 2020 when Chinese consumers started to buy more locally made EVs, according to Shanghai consultancy Automobility.

位于上海的咨询公司Automobility的数据显示，截至去年12月，外国品牌在中国市场的份额已从2020年的64%降至约44%。在2020年，更多中国消费者开始购买国产电动汽车。

“With the exception of Tesla, foreign brands were caught flat-footed as they did not anticipate the market shift [to EVs] and are rapidly losing relevance,” said Bill Russo, the former head of Chrysler in China and founder of Automobility, in a research note.

“除了特斯拉之外，外国品牌因为没有预料到市场转向（电动汽车）而被打乱阵脚，正在迅速丧失市场地位。”曾执掌克莱斯勒中国业务的Automobility创始人罗威在一份研究报告中表示。

Beyond Tesla, which has tripled its sales in China since 2020, Shenzhen-based BYD has been the biggest winner from China’s rapid uptake of EVs. The company, which counts Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway among its shareholders, sold a record 526,000 battery only EVs in the fourth quarter, compared to Tesla’s 484,000, becoming the world’s biggest producer of battery powered cars.

自2020年以来，特斯拉在中国的销量增长了两倍。除特斯拉之外，总部位于深圳的比亚迪是中国电动汽车快速普及的最大赢家。该公司的股东包括沃伦·巴菲特的伯克希尔哈撒韦公司。去年第四季度，比亚迪创造了52.6万辆的纯电池电动汽车销量纪录（同期特斯拉的销量为48.4万辆），成为全球最大的电池动力汽车生产商。

VW, one of Germany’s largest companies and employers, was one of the first western companies to start doing business in China in the 1970s and today depends on the country for at least half of its annual profits. Last year, the VW brand was dethroned as China’s best-selling car by BYD.

大众汽车是德国最大的企业和雇主之一，是上世纪70年代最早开始在中国开展业务的西方企业之一，如今该公司至少一半的年利润依赖中国。去年，比亚迪超越大众汽车，成为中国最畅销的汽车品牌。

In an effort to defend its position in China, VW last year announced €5bn of investment in the country and rolled out an “In China, for China” strategy to develop cars specifically to appeal to domestic consumers. Analysts have credited the company for its efforts while other automakers, such as US group Ford and South Korea’s Hyundai, have fallen further behind Chinese rivals.

去年，大众汽车为了捍卫自己在中国的地位，宣布在华投资50亿欧元，并推出“在中国，为中国”战略，开发专门迎合中国消费者的汽车。分析师们对该公司的努力表示赞赏，而美国福特和韩国现代等汽车制造商则被中国竞争对手更远地甩在了身后。

VW’s investments last year included a plan to spend $700mn on a 5 per cent stake in Guangzhou-based EV start-up Xpeng.

大众汽车去年的投资包括以7亿美元收购广州电动汽车初创企业小鹏汽车 5%股份的计划。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


The Chinese market for internal combustion engine cars, the segment where VW sells most of its vehicles, shrank 6 per cent in 2023 compared to a year earlier.

2023年，中国内燃机汽车（大众汽车销售的主要类型）市场较上年萎缩6%。

VW said on Tuesday that its global deliveries of cars reached 9.24mn in 2023, a 12 per cent rise from the year before, when the industry was still badly affected by supply chain bottlenecks for key parts such as semiconductors.

大众汽车周二表示，2023年其全球汽车交付量达到924万辆，较2022年增长12%——在2022年，该行业仍受到半导体等关键零部件供应链瓶颈的严重影响。

“That is a solid performance given the geopolitical and economic frxwork,” said Hildegard Wortmann, a member of VW’s extended executive committee, adding that the group’s global sales of electric cars grew more than a third to 770,000.

大众汽车扩大执行委员会成员希尔德加德·沃特曼表示：“考虑到地缘政治和经济框架，这样的表现称得上稳扎稳打。”她补充称，该集团全球电动汽车销量增长逾三分之一，至77万辆。
【竞争激烈毛利率不高 白山云吸引力一般】


As cloud computing continues to grow, increasingly sophisticated customers are becoming more demanding with their rapidly diversifying needs from service providers. Such users, engaged in cutting-edge technologies like 5G, the internet of things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI), are driving up demand for an emerging generation of “edge computing services,” which provide faster data transmission by moving computing power and offsite data closer to remote users.

随着云计算业务的持续蓬勃发展，用户对云计算的需求更加广泛，服务与业务的结合也更加紧密。在5G、物联网（IoT）、人工智能（AI）等技术的成长下，提供更快传输速率的边缘计算服务愈来愈受到重视。

One of China’s leading independent players in that space, Baishan Cloud Holdings Ltd., is hoping to become the first to bring its “edge” to Hong Kong investors, after submitting its IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late last month. The deal counts CICC and Haitong International, two major China-focused investment banks, as its joint sponsors.

中国独立边缘云（edge cloud）服务供应商白山云控股有限公司，赶在2023年结束前向港交所递交上市申请文件，挑战成为港股“边缘云第一股”。中金公司（3908.HK）和海通国际为联席保荐人。

Edge cloud is a new, rapidly-progressing category of cloud infrastructure and services, aiming to boost remote computing efficiency through decentralization. While traditional cloud computing provides more centralized resources using servers located in major data centers, edge computing uses a larger number of more widely dispersed nodes to process data closer to the end user, allowing for faster information transmission and processing.

边缘云是最近从云服务行业快速兴起的新型基础设施及服务类别。传统云计算与边缘云的差异，简单来说就是“集中”与“分散”。传统云计算提供更集中的资源供给，透过数据中心和服务器提供服务；而边缘计算则利用数量庞大的边缘设备（edge device），在更靠近资料的位置处理资料，为用户提供更快的信息传输和处理速度。

Founded in 2015, Baishan Cloud provides two main categories of services: edge cloud network services, and security and computing services. Network services mainly center on the company’s edge cloud-based networks for content, download and streaming media delivery. The company’s networks have served more than 1 billion end users.

成立于2015年的白山云，主要提供边缘云网络服务、安全和计算两大类服务。网络服务主要包括边缘全站加速网络、边缘下载交付网络及边缘流媒体交付网络。通过这项服务，该公司帮助客户连接全球数10亿终端用户，加快内容的传输速度，增强用户体验，实现提质增效。

Growing overseas business

海外业务带动增长

The company’s prospectus shows that Baishan Cloud’s revenue rose from 1.8 billion yuan ($253 million) in 2020 to 2.27 billion yuan the next year, before dipping to 2.13 billion yuan in 2022. It returned to a growth track in the first half of 2023, with its revenue up 7.9% year-on-year for the period to 1.08 billion yuan.

根据申请文件，2020年至2022年，白山云的收入分别为18亿元、22.7亿元及21.3亿元。2023年上半年，白山云实现营收10.8亿元，同比增长7.9%。

Despite being based in interior Guizhou province, one of China’s poorer regions, the company is rapidly expanding overseas. Contributions from overseas markets increased from 7.9% of Baishan Cloud’s revenue in 2020 to 26.2% in the first half of 2023. By the end of June last year, it had deployed more than 1,700 edge nodes in more than 300 cities in more than 50 countries and regions, with a network bandwidth of more than 80 Tbps. That rapid growth abroad has made the company the only independent Chinese edge cloud service provider with a significant overseas footprint, according to a third-party market research company cited in the prospectus.

值得一提的是，成立于贵州的白山云在海外发展快速。海外市场贡献占比从2020年的7.9%增加至2023年上半年的26.2%。截至2023年6月30日，白山云控股在超过50个国家和地区的300多个城市，部署了1,700多个全球边缘节点，网络带宽超过80Tbps。根据灼识咨询报告，按2022年海外收入计算，该公司是具有成熟海外业务的中国独立边缘云服务供应商中，增长最快的一家。

In 2022, it acquired ChinaCache’s overseas customer network as well as its sales and marketing teams. Baishan Cloud founder and CEO Huo Tao worked in ChinaCache for a decade and became its COO in 2015, responsible for the company’s overall operations, including sales. To further develop its overseas business, Baishan Cloud established a separate EdgeNext brand last year with its own independent operations team for customer development and service. Its customers include big-time game publisher Steam.

2022年，白山云收购了蓝汛控股已建立的海外客户网络，以及其销售与营销团队资产。白山云创始人兼CEO霍涛曾在蓝汛任职十年，2015年出任COO，负责销售业务在内的总体运营工作。

Big infrastructure investment

设施投资拉低毛利率

Despite its return to revenue growth and position at the cutting edge of the cloud services space, Baishan Cloud is still losing sizable money. Its annual losses were relatively constant from 2020 to 2022, ranging between 170 million yuan and 190 million yuan, though the figure narrowed to 35.9 million yuan in the first half of last year.

尽管如此，改善亏损仍是公司首要课题之一。2020年至2023年上半年，白山云的期内亏损分别为1.8亿、1.7亿、1.9亿元及3,590万元。

Its prospectus shows the company has invested heavily and incurred other expenses related to its core network infrastructure as a result of its rapid expansion. Its annual spending on bandwidth and rack leasing totaled between 1.59 billion yuan and 1.96 billion in the three years from 2020 to 2022, and was on track to reach a similar level at 870 million yuan in the first half of last year, accounting for between 80% and 90% of its total revenue each year in that period.

申请文件表示，亏损主要因为业务迅速扩张，网络基础设施的前期投资及其他成本与费用相对较大。2020年至2023年上半年，用于带宽及机架租赁的成本分别为15.9亿元、19.6亿元、17.9亿元及8.7亿元，分别占同期总收入的88.4%、86.3%、83.8%及79.9%。

That heavy spending has weighed on the company’s gross margin, though the figure has risen gradually from 4.3% in 2020 to 12.7% in the first half of last year.

从毛利率来看，2020年至2023年上半年，白山云毛利率分别为4.3%、7.4%、9.1%及12.7%，虽整体呈上升但仍偏低.

The company is also limited by its heavy reliance on a very small group of customers. According to the prospectus, revenue from its top five customers in 2022 accounted for 76.9% of the company’s total, with the largest customer alone accounting for 47.9%. Two of the five are also its major suppliers.

另一问题是，白山云存在客户过于集中的问题。根据申请文件，2022年公司前五大客户合计收入占公司总收入的76.9%，其中最大客户占比更高达47.9%。而有两客户同时也是公司主要供应商。也就是说，一旦主要客户流失，公司业绩将会受到显着的影响。

Formidable rivals

竞争对手强大

Despite its position at the leading edge of the cloud services space, Baishan Cloud faces quite a bit of competition. It commanded about 3.1% of China’s edge cloud services market in 2022, behind such heavyweights as the country’s big three telcos, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, as well as some of the country’s other large cloud service providers. Baishan Cloud admitted it could face difficulty winning new market share in such a tough field.

虽然白山云是边缘云领域的先行探索者，但公司面对的挑战者相当强劲。根据申请文件，白山云2022年的市场份额约为3.1%。排在前面的有中国移动（0941.HK）、中国联通（0762.HK）、中国电信（0728.HK）等三大电信运营商，以及多家大型云服务商。公司坦言，面对资源庞大的竞争对手，能取得多少市场份额难以预测。

That said, there’s still plenty of business to go around. China’s edge cloud market was worth 4.5 billion yuan in the first half of 2023, up 46.3% year-on-year, according to a report by data tracking firm IDC. The rapid growth is being driven by factors like internet audio and video companies speeding up construction of their traffic distribution systems, and service providers increasing the supply of edge resources to local customers.

根据国际数据公司（IDC）最新发布的《中国边缘云市场跟踪研究，2023H1》报告，2023上半年，中国边缘云市场规模总计45亿元，同比增长46.3%。报告提到，在互联网音视频客户加速自建流量分配体系，以及服务商加大向本地客户供给边缘资源等因素驱动下，边缘云市场在过去两年得以高速增长，并成为整个云计算市场中最重要的增长引擎之一。

The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) forecasts the total number of connected IoT devices worldwide will reach 25.2 billion by 2025, which will generate huge amounts of data. Such devices and their developers will rely strongly on edge cloud services to provide more stable networks, faster data transmission and lower latency in a growing number of scenarios.

据全球移动通信系统协会（GSMA）预测，到2025年全球物联网设备联网总数将达到252亿个，将会生成大量的数据。要求网络更稳定、传输更快速、更低时延的场景，都在增加市场对边缘云服务的期待。

Baishan Cloud is positioning itself as an independent third party and will work together with larger centralized cloud companies, CEO Huo said in a previous interview. “The bigger the customer, the less they want to be tied to just one cloud company,” he said, adding that edge cloud “would become the next battleground in the trillion-yuan cloud computing market.”

CEO霍涛接受内地媒体访问时曾言，白山云的定位是“独立第三方”，与中心云是合作关系，组成生态。“客户愈大，愈不希望被一家云公司绑定”，因此边缘云未来会更有价值，“将成为万亿云计算市场的下一个决胜点”。

Baishan Cloud’s relatively early arrival to edge cloud services, including its early deployment of a large number of edge nodes, will be one of its major attractions for investors, as will its fast-growing overseas business. The company will use funds from its listing to continue expanding its networks, but will also need to show investors a roadmap to sustained profitability to cash in on its early-mover advantage at the “edge” of China’s vast but also crowded cloud services market.

边缘云是贴近用户与资料产生处的网络服务，因此客制化、场景化会是重要关键。对白山云来说，前期大量的边缘节点部署将是未来发展的优势之一，而在海外市场的业务成长，也将帮助公司建立起全球影响力。持续拓展服务网络加强研发技术能力，是白山云募得资金后的首要任务，随着边缘云价值的凸显，白山云的先发优势或会显现。