2020年经济学人 电动自行车冲击(2)

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Big firms such as Accell and Giant of Taiwan compete with sporty brands such as America’s Cannondale and affordable¹ city rides from QWIC. Brompton, a British maker² of fancy folding bikes, has been making 10% of its ￡42.5m ($56m) in annual sales from the electric sort, and hopes eventually to raise that figure to 40%.VanMoof, which raised $13.5m from investors³ in May, bills itself as the Tesla of e-bikes. Like the electric-car maker it designs its own parts, motors and software rather than relying on off-the-shelf bits and bobs. The result is a more seamless product, boasts Taco Carlier, a Dutch engineer who co-founded VanMoof with his brother in 2009.

像Accell和Giant of Taiwan这样的大公司，与Cannondale这样的美国运动品牌以及提供经济实惠城市乘车的QWIC展开了竞争。英国高档折叠自行车制造商Brompton，其年销售额为4250万英镑（合5600万美元），其中10%来自电动自行车，并希望最终能将这一数字提高到40%。今年5月，VanMoof从投资者那里筹集了1350万美元，并自称为电动自行车界的特斯拉。与电动汽车制造商一样，VanMoof自己设计零件、电机和软件，而不是依赖现成的零件。这位曾与自己的兄弟在2009年联合创立VanMoof的荷兰设计师塔科·卡莱尔自夸，这样一体化的制造可以使生产更加连贯流畅。

Demand is growing faster than manufacturers can keep up, leading to long backlogs⁴ and premium⁵ prices, which start at around $1,000. Giant says that its gross margin⁶ on e-bikes is around 25%, above its average of 21%. VanMoof’s machines go for $2,000 a pop. Mr Carlier may, however, have to rethink his firm’s marketing⁷ strategy. Though its polemic⁸ against traffic jams evokes⁹ French nouvelle vague cinema, the ad was banned in June by French authorities, for trying to “discredit the automobile¹⁰ sector”.

对于电动自行车需求的增长速度超过了制造商的承受能力，引发了长期积压和溢价，起价在1000美元左右。Giant公司表明其电动自行车的毛利率在25%左右，高于平均水平21%。VanMoof的电动自行车每辆售价2000美元。然而，卡莱尔可能不得不重新考虑公司的营销策略。尽管这则针对交通堵塞的论战让人想起了法国的新浪潮电影，但这则广告在6月被法国当局禁止，因为它试图“诋毁汽车行业”。