小米文件引發(fā)造車猜想

China’s smartphone maker Xiaomi has hinted at plans to build electric vehicles as tech groups increasingly look to cars as next-generation smart devices.

中國智能手機制造商小米(Xiaomi)暗示其計劃制造電動汽車。目前各家科技集團日益將汽車視為下一代智能設備。

In a regulatory filing in India publicised on Tuesday, Xiaomi said it may sell “all types of vehicles for transport, conveyance and other transport equipment, whether based on electricity or any other motive or mechanical power, including the components, spare parts” in India.

小米周二在向印度監(jiān)管機構提交的一份申報文件中表示，它可能在印度銷售“各種交通、傳送和其他運輸設備，包括部件、備件，無論這些車輛是基于電動、其他任何動力還是機械動力”。

The company has not announced any concrete plans to make electric vehicles in its native China and said it was not currently seeking any licences or permission to produce them. “We have nothing in the pipeline,” said one company employee.

該公司尚未宣布任何在中國本土生產(chǎn)電動汽車的具體計劃，并表示，目前沒有尋求生產(chǎn)電動汽車的執(zhí)照或許可。一位公司員工表示：“我們沒有規(guī)劃任何東西。”

Lei Jun, the company’s celebrity founder, last pronounced on the possibility of making a car at the beginning of 2015 — then ruling out that it would happen within “next three to five years”.

該公司的知名創(chuàng)始人雷軍上一次在2015年初宣布有可能制造汽車，隨后又排除了“今后3到5年”這么做的可能性。

But Chinese social media took that as a hint that Xiaomi was planning an entry into this market, as Chinese tech companies increasingly looked to apply their design and marketing skills in the car industry.

但隨著中國科技公司日益將它們的設計和營銷技巧應用于汽車行業(yè)，中國社交媒體將此視為小米計劃進入這個市場的跡象。

Tech savvy Chinese consumers increasingly see in-car “connectivity” — being able to do tasks such as shopping and browsing social media while on the road — as an important aspect in choosing a car.

精通科技的中國消費者在選擇汽車時日益將車內(nèi)“連通性”——在路上可以做購物和瀏覽社交媒體之類的事情——視為一個重要考慮。

Sixty-four per cent of Chinese polled by McKinsey in a study published last month said they would switch brands for better in-car connectivity, compared with 37 per cent of Americans and 19 per cent of Germans. In China, “Connectivity is a must-have feature”, the report said.

麥肯錫(McKinsey)在上月發(fā)布的一份研究報告中表示，受訪的中國人有64%表示，他們將會因更好的車內(nèi)連通性而改換品牌，而美國人和德國人的這一比例分別為37%和19%。該報告稱，在中國，“連通性是一項必備功能”。

Chinese alternatives to car software such as Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto are growing.

蘋果(Apple)的CarPlay和谷歌(Google)的Android Auto等汽車軟件的中國替代品正在增長。

Baidu, China’s answer to Google, launched Baidu CarLife in 2015, which integrates smartphones with car display screens and links artificial intelligence with speech recognition.

中國的搜索引擎百度(Baidu)在2015年推出了百度CarLife，它將智能手機與汽車顯示屏整合在一起，并將人工智能與語音識別連接起來。

Alibaba’s joint venture with Chinese carmaker SAIC, named Banma, recently released an in-car “operating system”.

阿里巴巴(Alibaba)與中國汽車制造商上汽集團(SAIC)成立的合資企業(yè)斑馬(Banma)最近推出了一款車內(nèi)“操作系統(tǒng)”。

Future Mobility, a new electric car venture, said it would launch the Byton — short for “Bytes on wheels” — next year, with a large dashboard screen. It said it saw its car as “the next generation smart device”.

一家新的電動汽車企業(yè)Future Mobility表示，它將于明年推出配備大尺寸儀表盤顯示屏的“拜滕”汽車(Byton，“Bytes on wheels”的縮寫)。該公司將其汽車視為“下一代智能設備”。

BMW is producing a version of its 5 Series for China, the 5 Series Li, that boasts two screens in the front, one 12-inch and one 10-inch, and three in the rear.

寶馬(BMW)正在生產(chǎn)中國版的寶馬5系列——5 Series Li，并宣稱該車前排有兩個分別為12英寸和10英寸的屏幕，后排座位還有3個屏幕。

But Xiaomi is the first major Chinese tech company even to allude to building whole cars, a plan that would nevertheless be in line with its business model. The group was once China’s hottest tech start-up but now has settled into a comfortable existence making internet-connected versions of goods aimed at the country’s middle class, from smartphones to rice cookers.

但小米是中國首家提到要制造整車的大型科技公司，然而這樣的計劃仍符合其商業(yè)模式。小米一度是中國最炙手可熱的科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，但現(xiàn)在已進入舒適區(qū)，制造各種網(wǎng)聯(lián)產(chǎn)品，從智能手機到電飯煲，產(chǎn)品面向中國的中產(chǎn)階層。

More than 200 companies have announced plans to build electric cars in China.

已有逾200家公司宣布了在中國制造電動汽車的計劃。