首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1)Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan’s carmakers. He’s a young(34), successful executive at an Internet-servi
(1)Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan’s carmakers. He’s a young(34), successful executive at an Internet-servi
admin
2016-11-03
59
问题
(1)Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan’s carmakers. He’s a young(34), successful executive at an Internet-services company in Tokyo and has plenty of disposable income. He used to own Toyota’s Hilux Surf, a sport utility vehicle. But now he uses mostly subways and trains. "It’s not inconvenient at all," he says. Besides, "having a car is so 20th century."
(2)Suda reflects a worrisome trend in Japan; the automobile is losing its emotional appeal, particularly among the young, who prefer to spend their money on the latest electronic gadgets. While minicars and luxury foreign brands are still popular, everything in between is slipping. Last year sales fell 6.7 percent—if you don’t count me minicar market. There have been larger one-year drops in other nations: sales in Germany fell 9 percent in 2007 thanks to a tax hike. But analysts say Japan is unique in that sales have been eroding steadily over time. Since 1990, yearly new-car sales have fallen from 7.8 million to 5.4 million units in 2007.
(3)Alarmed by this state of decay, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association launched a comprehensive study of the market in 2006. It found a widening wealth gap, demographic changes—fewer households with children, a growing urban population—and general lack of interest in cars led Japanese to hold their vehicles longer, replace their cars with smaller ones or give up car ownership altogether. "Japan’s automobile society stands at a crossroad," says Ryuichi Kitamura, a transport expert and professor at Kyoto University. He says he does not expect the trend to be reversed, as studies show that the younger Japanese consumers are, the less interested they are in having a car. JAMA predicts a further sales decline of 1.2 percent in 2008. Some analysts believe that if the trend continues for much longer, further consolidation in the automotive sector(already under competitive pressure)is likely.
(4)Japanese demographics have something to do with the problem. The country’s urban population has grown by nearly 20 percent since 1990, and most city dwellers use mass transit(the country’s system is one of the best developed in the world)on a daily basis, making it less essential to own a car. Experts say Europe, where the car market is also quite mature, may be in for a similar shift.
(5)But in Japan, the "demotorization" process, or kuruma banare, is also driven by cost factors. Owning and driving a car can cost up to $500 per month in Japan, including parking fees, car insurance, toll roads and various taxes. Taxes on a $17,000 car in Japan are 4.1 times higher than in the United States, 1.7 times higher than in Germany and 1.25 times higher than in the U.K., according to JAMA. "Automobiles used to represent a symbol of our status, a Western, modern lifestyle that we aspired for," says Kitamura. For today’s young people, he argues, "such thinking is completely gone."
(6)Cars are increasingly just a mobile utility; the real consumer time and effort goes into picking the coolest mobile phones and personal computers, not the hippest hatchback. The rental-car industry has grown by more than 30 percent in the past eight years, as urbanites book weekend wheels over the Internet. Meanwhile, government surveys show that spending on cars per household per year fell by 14 percent, to $600, between 2000 and 2005, while spending on Net and mobile-phone subscriptions rose by 39 percent, to $1,500, during the same period.
(7)For Japanese car companies, the implications are enormous. "Japan is the world’s second largest market, with a 17 to 18 percent share of our global sales. It’s important," says Takao Katagiri, corporate vice president at Nissan Motor Co. The domestic market is where Japanese carmakers develop technology and build their know-how, and if it falters, it could gut an industry that employs 7.8 percent of the Japanese work force.
(8)While surging exports, particularly to emerging markets, have more than offset the decline in domestic sales so far, companies are looking for ways to turn the tide. Nissan, for example, is trying to appeal to the digital generation with promotional blogs and even a videogame. A racing game for Sony’s PlayStation, for example, offers players the chance to virtually drive the company’s latest sporty model, the GT-R—a new marketing approach to create buzz and tempt them into buying cars. Toyota Motors has opened an auto mall as part of a suburban shopping complex near Tokyo, hoping to attract the kinds of shoppers who have long since stopped thinking about dropping by a car dealership. It’s a bit akin to the Apple strategy of moving electronics out of the soulless superstore, and into more appealing and well-trafficked retail spaces. It worked for Apple, but then Apple is so 21st century.
It can be inferred from the passage all of the following EXCEPT that _____.
选项
A、Japanese carmakers develop technology in overseas market
B、the young in Japan have little interest in having a car
C、Japan’s minicar industry didn’t lose its market share
D、Japan can be regarded as a nation at the wheel
答案
A
解析
第7段第3句提到,日本主要在国内市场创新技术,A与原文不符,故为答案。根据第3段第4句可推出B;从文章大意出发可得出D;由第2段第2句中的While minicars and luxury foreign brands arestill popular可推知C,均排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/su7O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Theword"girl"originallymeant"youngpersonofeithersex",butnowitmeans"youngpeopleoffemalesex".Thisisanexample
Whowasconsideredasthe"PoetofAmericanRevolution"?
TheSeattleTimesCompanyisonenewspaperfirmthathasrecognizedtheneedforchangeanddonesomethingaboutit.Inthene
Mergersandtakeoversmeantheactivitiesthattwoormorebusinessesjointogetherandoperateasoneorganization.Mergersus
Evenahalf-heartedonlookercannothelpbutrealizethatinthisfast-pacedworld,mostaspectsofpopularcultureareconstan
WhenIwasinmyearlyteens,Iwastakentoaspectacularshowonicebythemotherofafriend.Lookedroundattheluxuryof
StrategiesforWritingaLiteratureReviewAliteraturereviewdiscussespublishedinformationinaparticularsubjectarea.
MilityHopson’sattitudetowardslendingmoneytofamilyis______.
______isabranchoflinguisticswhichstudiestheinternalstructureofwordsandtherulesbywhichwordsareformed.
Oneofthetypesofmetaphorusuallyreferringtowithlittle【S1】______admirationisthedeadmetaphor:ametaphorwhichhasbe
随机试题
将零件的表面摊开在一个平面上的过程称为________。
深度访问法
脂肪动员时脂肪酸在血液中的运输形式是
人外周血T细胞与B细胞比值为
患者,女,46岁。风湿性心脏病史8年,二尖瓣狭窄,心功能Ⅰ级。口内有右下侧切牙、右下第一磨牙、左下侧切牙及左下第一磨牙残根,Ⅱ~Ⅲ度松动,需要拔除。对于该患者最佳的治疗方案是
独活的功效是()秦艽的功效是()
某患者,女,45岁,接触性出血20天,白带米汤样,有恶臭,宫颈Ⅱ度糜烂,有4cm3的质地脆赘生物,易出血。子宫大小正常,触诊及双附件(─)。最可能的诊断是()
二磷酸果糖注射液禁用的人群是()。
一家棉纺业企业为增值税一般纳税人,1月份发生下列业务:(1)购进纺织设备一台,不含税价格10万元,取得增值税专用发票,另支付运费500元,取得承运部门开具的运输发票。(2)从当地农民生产者购进免税棉花10吨,每吨1.4万元,收购凭证上注明价款14万元。
A、MaryMallondiedinhospital.B、MaryMallondidnotpassontyphoid.C、Foodcleanlinessisimportanttoourhealth.D、Foodcan
最新回复
(
0
)