密歇根新闻广播 美国制造的汽车走到末路?

 

Time's running out on the American car.

That's the conclusion drawn¹ by Detroit News business columnist² Daniel Howes after the automakers released their year-end sales results, and after some news coming out of the Ford³ Glass House.

Howes joined Stateside today to share more of his predictions for the American car market.

Listen above for the full conversation, or catch highlights below.

On the decline in demand for traditional cars

"Car sales are declining across the industry, really, except in a few German lines… The Fusion⁴ is a popular car, but it's not the most popular car in the market. It clearly doesn't lead the segment. Ford is having to kind of look at what the market in the United States is, what it really wants. … The sum total of this thing is clearly cars, as we understand them, are a lesser⁵, and lesser, and lesser piece of the American market, and I think you're seeing companies that are finally cutting the cord, if you will."

On market trends

"The SUVs and trucks are a bigger percentage of the marketplace... and it's going up, and in the case of cars, it continues to decline. And I don't think anybody thinks the trend is going to abate⁶."

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

3 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

4 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

5 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

6 abate   

vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退

参考例句：

• We must abate the noise pollution in our city.我们必须消除我们城里的噪音污染。
• The doctor gave him some medicine to abate the powerful pain.医生给了他一些药，以减弱那剧烈的疼痛。