西方汽车制造商在中国正面临进口自美国的它们自己所产的汽车的竞争，“平行进口”在全球最大汽车市场带来新的挑战。
成立不久的上海自贸区上周公布新的规定，正式使在华销售制造商原本打算在美国及其他市场售卖的汽车合法化，使买家可以享受约20%的折扣。
去年，中国竞争监管机构在针对涉嫌垄断行为的调查中，迫使许多外国汽车制造商降低汽车、零配件和服务成本。中国汽车经销商也要求供应商给予更多财务上的支持。
现在，平行进口市场的出现正为跨国汽车制造商带来更大的价格压力，尤其是高端的欧洲品牌。
通过制造商在美国和中国的官方经销商网络销售的同一品牌的汽车的售价差别巨大，在太平洋两岸之间制造了一个套利机会。越来越多的中间商在美国购买汽车，然后将其发运至未经授权的中国经销商。
在中国最大的平行进口汽车市场——港口城市天津，一辆从美国进口的奥迪(Audi) Q7运动型多功能车(SUV)上周的售价是66万元人民币（合10.6万美元），比这家德国制造商授权的中国经销商82.8万元人民币的售价便宜20%。在美国，奥迪Q7的建议零售价起步仅为4.83万美元，即29.9万元人民币。
汽车制造商正在他们最大、利润最丰厚的市场回击这个最新威胁，禁止各自的美国经销商把车卖给那些他们怀疑打算向中国出口汽车的人。但是如果套利者在美国购得一辆汽车，他们将车运往国外是合法的。
伯恩斯坦研究公司(Bernstein Research)分析师马克斯•沃伯顿(Max Warburton)说：“（制造商）在中国已败下阵来。在美国，他们正想尽一切办法来应对。”（中国进出口网）
Western carmakers are facing competition in China from the sale of their own imported vehicles from the US, as “parallel imports” provide a new challenge in the world’s largest auto market.
New rules from Shanghai’s fledgling free trade zone, issued last week, formally legalise the sale of cars that manufacturers originally intended to sell in the US and other markets — allowing buyers to receive discounts of about 20 per cent.
Last year, Chinese competition regulators forced many foreign carmakers to lower the cost of their vehicles, spare parts and services during a probe of allegedly anti-competitive behaviour. Chinese car dealers have also demanded greater financial support from their suppliers.
Now the emergence of parallel import markets is putting even greater price pressure on multinational carmakers, especially premium European brands.
Large price differentials for brands sold via manufacturers’ official dealer networks in the US and China create an arbitrage opportunity across the Pacific. Middlemen are buying cars in the US and shipping them to unauthorised dealers in China in increasing numbers.
At China’s largest market for parallel imports, in the port city of Tianjin, an Audi Q7 sport utility vehicle imported from the US was on sale last week for Rmb660,000 ($106,000) — 20 per cent cheaper than the Rmb828,000 charged by the German manufacturer’s authorised China dealerships. In the US, Audi’s suggested retail prices for the Q7 start at just $48,300, or Rmb299,000.
Carmakers are fighting back against this latest threat to their largest and most profitable market, prohibiting their US dealers from selling cars to people who they suspect intend to export the vehicles to China. But once arbitrageurs have obtained a car in the US, it is legal for them to ship it abroad.
“The [carmakers] have lost the battle on the Chinese side,” said Max Warburton, an analyst at Bernstein Research. “On the US side they are throwing everything they can think of at it.”
