德国汽车产业素以卓越的工程技术水平和出色的市场营销能力著称，如今却正饱受日益激烈的竞争、贸易壁垒以及消费者偏好变化带来的冲击。
The German auto industry — long renowned for its engineering prowess and marketing genius — is reeling from stiffening competition, trade threats and shifting consumer tastes.
为何此事值得关注：数十年来，大众、梅赛德斯-奔驰和宝马一直是全球汽车市场的中坚力量，但如今市场格局已发生显著变化。
Why it matters: Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been a powerful force on the global auto market for decades — but the market has shifted sharply.
整体来看：这三家企业无论在德国本土还是海外市场，都面临着中国电动汽车带来的巨大挑战。
The big picture: All three companies are facing major challenges in the form of Chinese EVs, both at home and abroad.
大众汽车正试图在全球约66.7万名员工中裁减多达10万名员工——这一裁员规模可谓惊人。与此同时，该公司在至关重要的中国市场正不断丧失市场份额。花旗集团分析师哈拉尔德·亨德里克塞在9月份表示：“我们对此深感担忧。”
Volkswagen is attempting to cut up to 100,000 employees from a total global staff of about 667,000 — a bureaucracy of staggering proportions by all accounts. And the company is bleeding market share in the critical Chinese market. "We're super concerned" about that, Citi analyst Harald Hendrikse said in September.
宝马同样饱受臃肿的官僚体制困扰，近期承诺裁减20%的管理人员，并计划更多地运用人工智能技术。不过，该公司在中国的市场份额也在大幅缩水。
BMW is wracked by bureaucracy of its own and recently pledged to cut 20% of its managers, vowing to use more AI. It's also losing significant ground in China.
梅赛德斯-奔驰则对美国国会正在审议的一项法案忧心不已。该法案规定，若汽车制造商的中国资本持股比例超过15%，则不得在美国销售车辆。目前，中国资本持有梅赛德斯-奔驰近20%的股份。
种种挑战表明，德国汽车产业在全球市场的竞争力正面临持续下滑的严重风险。
Mercedes-Benz is fretting about a bipartisan bill on Capitol Hill that would ban automakers with more than 15% Chinese ownership from selling vehicles in the U.S. Nearly 20% of Mercedes is owned by Chinese entities. The challenges illustrate how the German auto industry's competitive position on the global stage is at serious risk of continuing to erode.
大众汽车首席执行官奥利弗·布鲁姆在电话会议上说道：“行业内的种种变化要求我们采取果断行动，也要求我们对整个集团进行全面转型。”
"The changes in our industry require decisive action and they require a comprehensive transformation of our group," Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said on a conference call.
进一步来看：德国汽车工业协会的一位发言人对Axios提到，该协会近期发布的一份报告指出，“技术开放度不足、监管过度以及商业环境缺乏竞争力”正对其会员企业构成严重威胁。
Zoom in: A spokesperson for the German Association of the Automotive Industry pointed Axios to a recent report in which the organization acknowledged a "lack of technological openness, excessive regulation, and uncompetitive business conditions" as serious threats for its members.
该协会还呼吁放宽欧盟的相关法规——现行法规实际上禁止传统内燃机汽车的生产与销售，而这正是德国各大汽车制造商赖以生存的核心业务。
The organization called for easing EU regulations that would effectively ban conventional engine vehicles, the bread and butter of the horsepower-fueled German automakers.
该协会预测，随着电动汽车逐渐取代燃油车，到2035年德国汽车行业的就业岗位数量将比2019年减少19万个。
The association estimated that the German auto industry could have 190,000 fewer jobs in 2035 than it had in 2019 as EVs usurp gas-powered cars.
在美国市场，德国汽车制造商的表现同样不尽如人意。大众汽车面临的困境尤为突出。据汽车研究网站Edmunds的数据，2025年大众品牌在美国市场的份额为2%，较2021年的2.5%有所下滑；其旗下豪华品牌奥迪在同一时期的美国市场份额则从1.4%降至1%。
In the U.S., the German automakers aren't faring particularly well, either. Volkswagen is particularly troubled here. U.S. market share for the Volkswagen brand was 2% in 2025, down from 2.5% in 2021, according to car research site Edmunds. U.S. market share for the company's luxury Audi brand declined from 1.4% to 1% during that span.
Edmunds的分析师伊万·德鲁里指出，进入2020年代后，整车价格普遍上涨，消费者对于德国车企长期所推崇的那些高成本、高技术含量的工程设计逐渐失去兴趣。“这些正是德国车企长期以来引以为傲的优势领域，如今却突然失去了竞争力，”德鲁里说道。
Between the lines: With vehicle prices soaring industrywide in the 2020s, consumers have become less interested in the intensive and costly engineering that the German automakers have long emphasized, says Edmunds analyst Ivan Drury. "These things they had done so well on for so long — they kind of had the rug pulled out from under them," Drury said.
此外，德国车企长期重点打造的豪华车型，如今也难再凸显优势——因为普通车型如今也配备了许多过去仅出现在高端品牌上的配置。据Cars.com统计，如今消费者考虑购买豪华车的意愿较2019年下降了11.5%。Cars.com主编珍妮·纽曼向Axios表示：“为应对不断上涨的购车成本，消费者更看重性价比与可靠性，因此更倾向于选择普通品牌而非豪华品牌。”
Plus, the luxury models that the Germans have long prioritized have lost their edge on mainstream models, which have added more features previously exclusive to premium brands. By the numbers: Shoppers are 11.5% less likely to consider a luxury model now than they were in 2019, according to Cars.com. "Shoppers are prioritizing value and reliability to hedge against higher costs, leading shoppers to consider mainstream automakers over luxury automakers," Cars.com editor-in-chief Jenni Newman tells Axios in an Threat level: Globally, the biggest challenge facing the German automakers is the arrival of cheap and well-engineered Chinese EVs, prompting growing chatter of European trade action.
从全球范围来看，德国车企面临的最大挑战便是价格低廉且品质过硬的中国电动汽车的崛起，这也引发了关于欧盟采取贸易反制措施的诸多讨论。今年9月，德国财政部长拉尔斯·克林贝伊尔在访问大众位于沃尔夫斯堡的总部时指出，欧盟如今应当“坚决应对中国的不公平贸易行为”。据法新社报道，克林贝伊尔强调：“说到底，我们在与中国打交道时绝不能抱有天真幻想”，并呼吁欧盟出台“切实有效的应对措施”。
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said in September during a visit to Volkswagen's headquarters in Wolfsburg that it's time for the EU to stand "up to unfair trade practices" in China. "We cannot, when all is said and done, be naive in our dealings with China," Klingbeil said, calling on "concrete measures" from the EU, according to AFP.
当前动态：在美国，旨在禁止中国持股比例超过15%的企业销售汽车的立法提案目前暂被搁置，要等到中期选举结束后再议。
What we're watching: In the U.S., the legislative effort to ban auto sales from companies with 15%+ Chinese ownership is on hold until after the midterm elections.
该提案获得了两党的广泛支持，但共和党参议员伯尼·莫雷诺上周承诺，一定会确保最终通过的法案不会禁止奔驰汽车的销售。
It has significant bipartisan support, but Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno vowed last week to make sure that the final bill doesn't ban Mercedes.
总结来说：“对于任何在全球市场上参与竞争的企业而言，它们都视中国电动汽车为生存的最大威胁，”德鲁里说道。
The bottom line: "For anybody who's competing on a global scale, every single one of them sees Chinese EVs as the largest threat to their existence," Drury says.