The North American International Auto Show in Detroit is one part trade fair and one part Barnum & Bailey Circus. Concept cars are the prancing ponies -- or sometimes the pratfalling clowns.
底特律國(guó)際車展一方面是場(chǎng)汽車展銷會(huì)，另一方面卻像巴納姆和貝利馬戲團(tuán)表演。車展上的概念車有時(shí)像歡蹦亂跳的小馬駒，有時(shí)又像嘩眾取寵的小丑。
Car makers use auto-show concept cars, usually one-of-a-kind prototypes built by hand, to capture the imaginations of the press and public with flashy visions of what might come tomorrow. Some show cars are pure whimsy, confections dreamed up by young designers at play.
汽車生產(chǎn)商們通過(guò)車展來(lái)展出概念車(通常都是手工打造且獨(dú)一無(wú)二的樣車)，將媒體和公眾對(duì)未來(lái)車型所展開的天馬行空的想像具象化。展出的車型中有些純屬異想天開，只是年輕設(shè)計(jì)師們閑來(lái)無(wú)事的憑空想像。
More and more, as at this year's Detroit show, car makers like General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are pursuing concept cars that have serious intent. Some are thinly disguised prototypes of cars in the pipeline. Some present a technology idea that executives want to road-test with the press and public.
正如今年的底特律車展顯示，越來(lái)越多的汽車生產(chǎn)商，如通用汽車公司和豐田汽車公司正在研發(fā)具有嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)意圖的概念車。有些屬于醞釀之中的車型的樣車，只不過(guò)稍加偽裝而已；有些則展現(xiàn)了某種技術(shù)概念，管理層希望就此測(cè)試媒體和公眾的反應(yīng)。
Here are some of this year's notable show cars:
以下為展出的幾款本年度值得關(guān)注的車型：
-- GMC Granite
通用GMC Granite廂式概念車
GMC, one of the four U.S. brands that survived the General Motors bankruptcy, is best known for sturdy commercial trucks, large pickups and beefy Yukon and Suburban sport-utilities. Now GM has decided it wants to expand the GMC brand with some more-petite offerings. Behold the Granite, which GMC describes as an "urban utility vehicle" and "the automotive equivalent of an urban loft apartment."
GMC作為在通用汽車破產(chǎn)中幸免于難的四個(gè)美國(guó)品牌之一，以其堅(jiān)固的商用貨車，大型皮卡，結(jié)實(shí)的Yukon和Suburban運(yùn)動(dòng)型多功能車（SUV）而著稱。現(xiàn)在通用汽車決定生產(chǎn)小型車以拓寬GMC的品牌影響力。看一看這款Granite，GMC將其描述為一款“適合城市用途的汽車”和“汽車式城市閣樓公寓”。
To be sure, a very small urban loft apartment, equipped with a 1.4-liter engine and a six-speed transmission. If the idea of a boxy, four-cylinder urban micro-wagon rings a bell, that's because this is pretty much the idea behind the existing flock of vehicles led by the Toyota Scion xB, and joined more recently by the Nissan Cube and the Kia Soul.
這無(wú)疑是一款很小的城市閣樓公寓，配有一個(gè)1.4升發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)和一個(gè)六檔變速箱。如果一輛四四方方的四缸城市微型汽車的設(shè)計(jì)聽來(lái)耳熟，那是因?yàn)樗汛嬖谟诂F(xiàn)有汽車的設(shè)計(jì)之中，這一潮流由豐田Scion xB領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，最近尼桑Cube和起亞Soul也加入其中。
-- Toyota FT-CH
豐田FT-CH混合動(dòng)力概念車
Toyota has struggled for years to figure out what is hip. When the company was enjoying huge financial success and gaining market share, its leaders worried that having a reputation for bulletproof quality and smart technology wasn't enough. Now that the company has stumbled badly on the quality front, and recorded a big loss for the first half of its fiscal year, Toyota's crusade for hipness is taking on more urgency.
豐田公司奮斗多年以期弄清何謂潮流。當(dāng)公司享受著巨大經(jīng)濟(jì)成功并獲得市場(chǎng)份額時(shí)，其領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人擔(dān)憂僅在口碑上擁有可以防彈的質(zhì)量和智能技術(shù)是不夠的。如今公司在質(zhì)量方面跌跌撞撞，根據(jù)記錄顯示前半個(gè)財(cái)政年度損失慘重，豐田向潮流進(jìn)發(fā)的遠(yuǎn)征任務(wù)顯得更加緊迫。
The FT-CH, a compact hybrid with a key-lime-green color scheme and a compact, hatchback profile, was designed by one of Toyota's European design teams. According to the company, the team sought to channel the feel of early 1980s 8-bit microprocessor videogames such as Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog.
豐田FT-CH小型混合動(dòng)力車由公司中的歐洲設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)設(shè)計(jì)，采用醒目的淺綠配色方案，體型小巧，車體為掀背式。豐田公司稱該設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)致力于從上世紀(jì)80年代早期的八位微處理電腦游戲，諸如超級(jí)瑪麗和刺猬索尼克中尋找靈感。
-- Hyundai Blue-Will
現(xiàn)代Blue-Will概念車
The Chevrolet Volt hasn't even hit the market, but already GM can claim that it has changed the conventional wisdom in the auto industry about so-called plug-in hybrids -- cars that derive some of their power from gasoline engines, and some from plugging into the electric grid. Not so long ago, the industry wisdom on plug-ins was that they represented a fringe technology, too expensive for mass production. The Hyundai Blue-Will concept is an acknowledgment that in the future every major player in the U.S. market will have to have either a plug-in model or an all-electric model to be taken seriously.
盡管通用雪佛蘭Volt尚未上市，通用汽車已然可以說(shuō)它已經(jīng)改變了汽車行業(yè)對(duì)插電式混合動(dòng)力車的傳統(tǒng)觀念。這種類型車輛的動(dòng)力部分來(lái)自汽油發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)，部分通過(guò)插電獲取動(dòng)力。不久前汽車產(chǎn)業(yè)還認(rèn)為插電式混合動(dòng)力車僅代表著一種邊緣技術(shù)，對(duì)于量產(chǎn)而言則過(guò)于昂貴。現(xiàn)代Blue-Will概念車令美國(guó)市場(chǎng)各大廠商承認(rèn)，未來(lái)他們必須精心推出一款能讓市場(chǎng)認(rèn)同的插電式混合動(dòng)力車或者全電動(dòng)車型。
-- Audi e-tron and BMW Concept ActiveE
奧迪e-tron與寶馬ActiveE概念車
On the floor of the Detroit Auto Show, the Audi e-tron show car sits across the aisle from the display of electric sports cars from Tesla Motors Inc. The juxtaposition is apt. The e-tron -- a variant of a concept Audi started showing last year -- represents the next step in the evolution of electric luxury cars from politically correct green technology to a more hedonistic, high-performance appeal, an evolution that is a foundation of Tesla's business. The Audi e-tron's styling borrows the aggressive stance and high-performance promise of the brand's $114,200 R8 super sports car. Not far from the Audi show vehicle is BMW AG's latest iteration of electric drive, the Concept ActiveE -- more easily described as an electric 1-series coupe.
在展廳里特斯拉汽車公司電動(dòng)跑車展臺(tái)和奧迪e-tron概念車展臺(tái)就隔著一條路。這樣的并列布局十分恰當(dāng)。本次車展上的奧迪e-tron概念車是對(duì)去年發(fā)布款型的改良版，體現(xiàn)了豪華電動(dòng)汽車產(chǎn)業(yè)從追隨政治潮流大打環(huán)保節(jié)能牌向強(qiáng)調(diào)享樂(lè)與高性能并重的下一步演變，這也正是特斯拉汽車的發(fā)展之本。e-tron的外觀設(shè)計(jì)借鑒了奧迪R8──這款以前衛(wèi)設(shè)計(jì)和高性能著稱的超級(jí)跑車售價(jià)為11.42萬(wàn)美元。奧迪e-tron展臺(tái)不遠(yuǎn)處便是寶馬公司最新推出的ActiveE電動(dòng)概念車，簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)，它就是寶馬1系列的電動(dòng)版。
-- Mini Beachcomber
寶馬Mini Beachcomber
BMW has said from Day One in its relaunch of the Mini franchise that it intended to create a family of Minis, reviving more than just the iconic Mini Cooper two-door. The Mini Beachcomber concept represents a tricked-out version of a real fourth model Mini to launch later this year: a Mini crossover. The Beachcomber's open-sided body and beach-buggy vibe is designed to recall the Mini Moke -- a tiny Jeep-like dune buggy Mini produced in the mid-1960s to the delight of beach bums everywhere in the British Commonwealth.
在Mini系列車型重新面世的第一天，寶馬汽車便表示要打造Mini車家族而不僅僅是將重振Mini Cooper雙座車。Mini Beachcomber概念車大膽前衛(wèi)的設(shè)計(jì)為今年晚些時(shí)候發(fā)布的Mini家族第四代：Mini Crossover奠定了基礎(chǔ)。這款車的敞開式車身以及沙灘越野車風(fēng)范都讓人回想起Mini Moke──這款有著吉普外形的迷你沙灘車誕生于上世紀(jì)60年代中期的英國(guó)，以迎合當(dāng)時(shí)遍布英聯(lián)邦各地的沙灘愛好者們。
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（來(lái)源：愛詞霸沙龍 編輯：Julie）
