2007年4月3日 全球汽车商"驶往"华尔街
本周,华尔街的奖金似乎要比全球变暖或能源自主问题都更为重要,全球汽车厂商将在纽约国际车展(New York Auto Show)上炫耀着它们的产品。 Wall Street bonuses loom larger than global warming or energy independence this week, as the world's carmakers show off their wares at the New York Auto Show. The show's organisers have increasingly targeted investment bankers and hedge-fund managers as the financial-services industry has rebounded from the dot-com bust and 9/11. Whatever the oil price and no matter how bad New York's traffic and pollution get, luxury and performance will trump fuel efficiency for the next few days. "There's a lot of money around", says Brian Miller, owner of Manhattan Motorcars, a dealership that represents several luxury brands. "Give the people here the newest and the hottest, and they'll lap it up." The show's preview period, once reserved for the media, has been thrown open to analysts and brokers, who now make up about a third of the 6,000 visitors on those days, the organisers estimate. Tickets to Thursday's gala dinner, at $1,000 a head, also grant their holders a sneak peek at the exhibits. The dinner's sponsors include Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand, and Fimat, a futures trading firm. At the end of the evening a Lexus LS 600h L hybrid saloon will be auctioned. Toyota boasts that the car's performance is on a par with a 12-cylinder vehicle, thanks to a combination of its most powerful V8 engine and a hybrid system. Part of a drive by Lexus into the upper echelons of the luxury car market, the LS 600h L is expected to have a sticker price of about $100,000 when it goes on sale this spring. Lexus will unveil its new LX 570 sport-utility vehicle at the show, which also has a V8 engine. General Motors hopes to put fizz into its staid Buick brand with high-performance "Super" versions of the LaCrosse and Lucerne saloons. The company will also display more powerful versions of the Hummer H2 and H3 behemoths, though it boasts that the new H2 is more fuel-efficient than predecessor. GM will seek to burnish its green credentials with three Chevrolet "minicar" concept vehicles, aimed at young urban drivers. Infiniti, Nissan's luxury brand, will introduce its new G37 sports car as well as a concept vehicle known as the EX. Infiniti opened a dealership in lower Manhattan last year that targets Wall Street luxury car buyers. Mercedes Benz plans to woo the Wall Street crowd with its CL65 AMG coupe, produced by its high-performance AMG arm. Each engine carries a plaque engraved with the signature of the builder, in line with the company's claim of "one man, one engine". Only 40 of the 12-cylinder cars will be built. They feature a paint finish that, according to Mercedes, gleams like liquid metal. The price tag for an AMG model is $25,000-$35,000 higher than for the equivalent mass-production version. Sticker prices for the CL-class on which the new AMG version is based are between $101,000 and $145,000. But bonus-flush traders tempted by the auto show offerings should brace themselves for some bad news. Mr Miller reports that his dealership, which is located just two blocks from the Jacob Javits Center where the show is held, has sold out of some of the most popular upscale vehicles, such as Bentleys and Porsche 911 convertibles. However, he says that he may be able to pull something out of the hat for his most loyal customers. |