中國文化成爲外國汽車製造商攬客良方

Mandarin has become a new vehicle for foreign automakers to woo Chinese customers.

普通話現在已成爲外國汽車製造商招攬中國消費者的新手段。

It sometimes even sings — such as when Nicholas Speeks, a Briton who heads sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz in China, drew cheers on last Monday by serenading a crowd at Auto China in Beijing with the ballad Great China.

有時候甚至是唱歌--比如身爲英國人的梅賽德斯·奔馳中國區市場銷售總裁倪愷，就在上週一的車展上演唱民謠《大中國》，從而引來人們的喝彩。

"We have the same home, and its name is China," Speeks crooned in Mandarin to applause at the company's booth at the show.

倪愷在公司的展臺上用普通話這樣唱道："我們都有一個家，名字叫中國。"

That was a day after the brand's new E-class car was unveiled to the tune of the Chinese classic song In the Field of Hope. Participants joked that the country truly is "a field of hope" for Mercedes-Benz.

一天之前，梅賽德斯·奔馳還用一首中國經典歌曲《在希望的田野上》拉開了新E級車全球首發的序幕。與會者開玩笑稱，中國真的是奔馳公司的"希望的田野"。

China became the automaker's largest market when it sold 373,500 vehicles on the mainland last year. Sixty-seven percent of its vehicles were manufactured in China, 12 percentage points more than in 2014.

去年，中國大陸共售出37萬3500輛汽車，從而成爲了汽車製造商的最大市場。其中，67%的汽車都是中國製造的，這一數字相比2014年增加了12個百分點。

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth ended his speech at the auto show by declaring in Mandarin, "I love China." His speech centered on the company opening an aluminum workshop in Jiangsu province earlier this year, its first such plant outside the United Kingdom. Speth also referred to a saying used in both Chinese and Western cultures: "Teaching one how to fish is better than giving fish to him."

此外，捷豹路虎集團首席執行官斯佩思在北京國際車展上以一句普通話"我愛中國"結束了自己的講話。他演講的中心主要是今年早些時候在江蘇省開辦的全鋁車身車間，該車間也是其在英國本土之外的第一家工廠。在演講中，斯佩思還引用了一句中西文化通用的諺語："授人以魚不如授人以漁。"

"Showgirls have not been allowed at the auto show for the past two years. So car companies are trying something new to attract attention," said John Zeng, managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy LMC Automotive.

上海艾爾西汽車市場諮詢有限公司總經理曾志凌對此表示，在過去兩年裏，車展上禁止出現車模，因此車企紛紛嘗試能引人注目的新手段。

"Many carmakers have localized, and such behavior is part of localization," said an auto analyst.

一位汽車分析師稱："許多汽車製造商已經本土化，這些行爲就是本土化的一部分。"