????不管是哪家車企,，同時擁有兩款熱銷車型實在非比尋常,，更何況是斯巴魯這樣的小公司。

????今天,，斯巴魯開辟了一個最適合自己的市場,，獲得了豐厚利潤，因為它正像一位全美橄欖球聯(lián)盟（NFL）的接球手,，已學會如何在邊線求勝,。比如，在競爭激烈的中級車市場上,，斯巴魯繞開了凱美瑞,、雅閣和天籟（Altima）這些重磅車型，給力獅（Legacy）搭載了全時四驅系統(tǒng)（AWD）,，這是其他車型通常不會提供的,。它也不用準備昂貴的銷售贈品，因為它的車總是貨源緊俏,，而買斯巴魯的車主往往經濟條件不錯,，對促銷活動并不太在意。8月,，斯巴魯花在每輛車上的贈品僅為857美元；只有保時捷（Porsche）這方面花費更少,。專業(yè)汽車網站Edmunds.com的資深分析師杰西卡·考德威爾稱,，斯巴魯車主往往有能力買更貴的車，不會緊摳價格,，而且即使經濟不景氣,，他們也會繼續(xù)購買。

????不過,，就算是這樣,，斯巴魯或其母公司富士重工的日子也并不好過。在以規(guī)模制勝的汽車業(yè),，它們實在微不足道,。斯巴魯的產品線里，沒有像本田飛度（Fit）這樣的微型車,，也沒有豐田“亞洲龍”（Avalon）這樣的全尺寸大車,。斯巴魯所有車型和酷越車僅有兩個生產平臺【通用汽車（General Motors）有30個！】，所有車型的尺寸只從超小型延伸到中型車?，F在,，斯巴魯需要與豐田合作，使BRZ具備經濟性,。斯巴魯負責該車大部分工程,，提供引擎，而豐田負責外形設計,，并推出了一款幾乎一模一樣,，名為賽恩FR-S（Scion FR-S）的跑車。

????斯巴魯的美國高管湯姆·多爾駕駛著一輛森林人（Forester）,。

????當造型笨拙的七座車“馳鵬”（Tribeca）這樣的新車型沒能在市場上取得成功時,，小型車的銷量會受到沖擊。對小車廠商來說,，要在新技術上保持優(yōu)勢也頗為困難,。斯巴魯標志性的四缸水平對置發(fā)動機（boxer）設計已有20年之久；而在豐田的普銳斯（Prius）已經上市15年后,，斯巴魯的首款混合動力車才計劃于明年面世,。2011年3月，日本大地震和海嘯對斯巴魯沖擊極大,，致使其在日本的工廠關閉了四周之久,，同時還導致它運往在美唯一工廠的零部件物流中斷。這所工廠位于印第安納州的拉斐特市,。當時經銷商求車若渴,。斯巴魯平時的庫存量維持在32,000輛，當時卻下降到17,000輛,，嚴重影響了銷售業(yè)績,。

????最終斯巴魯恢復了生機，但現在又面臨新的挑戰(zhàn),。它必須迎頭趕上競爭對手,，為全系車型開發(fā)更省油的動力系統(tǒng)，在日本以外開設更多工廠,，分散匯率風險,，同時在美國擴大銷售渠道。而且,，它還得注意防范新的不利因素,。一年前，上升勢頭正猛的大眾汽車（Volkswagen）挖走了斯巴魯的營銷高管,。另據業(yè)內報告稱,，大眾正在考慮開發(fā)一款全新酷越車,，它的離地間距、保險杠和輪罩拱鍍層完全就沖著斯巴魯最暢銷的車型而去,。

????因此，斯巴魯必須找到差異化的新路子,，同時步子還不能邁得太大,。自誕生以來，它就一直特立獨行,。它的總部在新澤西郊區(qū),，與其位于南加州的日本對手們相距千里。多數進口車車企的高層都由銷售經理和營銷專家擔任,。但斯巴魯的美國掌門人卻是會計出身,，早年在公司擔任助理財務總監(jiān)。而且斯巴魯的產品開發(fā)史上充斥著各類古怪車型,，比如BRAT,，這是一款小型皮卡，它在后貨廂上安裝了面朝后方的折疊式座椅,，以逃避所謂的“雞肉關稅”（chicken tax,，美國對進口皮卡征收的25%的關稅——譯注）。又如Justy,，英國頂級汽車節(jié)目Top Gear稱其“和自己的名字一樣無趣”,；還有Baja，這是一款旅行車,，它用敞開式貨艙代替了后艙,，有人把它比喻成一只鴨嘴獸。

????譯者：清遠

????It's unusual for any car company, let alone one as tiny as Subaru, to have two hit models at once.

????Today Subaru finds itself in a market sweet spot that produces outsize profits because, like an NFL receiver, it has learned how to work the seams. In the overcrowded midsize segment, for instance, Subaru sidesteps heavyweights like?Camry,?Accord, and?Altima?by equipping the Legacy with all-wheel drive (AWD), which the others don't offer. It can dodge expensive incentives because its cars are in short supply and its relatively affluent buyers are less sensitive to promotions. In August, Subaru spent just $857 per car on incentives; only Porsche spent less. Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell says Subaru customers are generally capable of affording a more expensive vehicle, don't buy strictly on price, and continue shopping even when the economy takes a dive.

????Even so, life isn't easy for Subaru or its corporate parent, Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries. They are minnows in an industry where size counts. Don't look in Subaru's lineup for any minicars the size of the?Honda Fit?or for full-size ones like the?Toyota Avalon?either. All Subaru cars and crossovers are based on just two platforms (General Motors (GM) has 30!), and the vehicles range in size only from subcompact to midsize. Subaru needed to form a partnership with Toyota (TM) to make the BRZ economical. Subaru did most of the engineering and provided the engine, but Toyota created the design and markets an almost identical version called?the Scion FR-S.

????Tom Doll, Subaru's top U.S. executive, in a Forester

????Small size hurts when a new model like the awkward seven-passenger Tribeca fails to gain a foothold. It's also hard for a small car maker to keep on top of new technology. Subaru's signature four-cylinder "boxer" design is two decades old, and the company's first hybrid car won't come out until next year, 15 years after Toyota's Prius?went on sale. Subaru suffered a near catastrophe when?the earthquake and tsunami?in March 2011 closed factories in Japan for four weeks and interrupted the flow of parts to its sole U.S. plant, in Lafayette, Ind. Dealers were starved for cars. Used to operating with 32,000 cars on the ground, Subaru saw its inventories drop to 17,000, pummeling sales.

????Subaru recovered but now faces fresh challenges. It needs to catch up with competitors by developing fuel-efficient powertrains across its lineup, opening more factories outside Japan to spread its currency risk, and expanding its U.S. sales footprint. And it has to keep looking over its shoulder.?Fast-rising Volkswagen poached Subaru's top marketing executive a year ago, and according to industry reports, VW is considering a new crossover with ride height, bumpers, and wheel-arch cladding that takes dead aim at Subaru's most popular models.

????So Subaru will have to find new ways to differentiate itself, which shouldn't be much of a stretch. Since its founding, it has always gone its own way. Its headquarters are in a New Jersey suburb, several thousand miles away from its Japanese competitors in Southern California. While former sales managers and marketing experts sit atop most import car companies, Subaru's highest American executive is an accountant who started at the company as an assistant treasurer. And Subaru's product history is studded with oddities like the BRAT, a mini-pickup with rear-facing jump seats bolted to the rear bed to circumvent a tariff known as the chicken tax; the Justy, whichTop Gear?said "manages the impressive feat of being as boring as its name promises"; and the Baja, a station wagon, built with an open cargo bed in place of a rear compartment, which one reviewer compared to a platypus.