United States
美国板块
Travel returns
旅行解封
Baby, you can't drive my car
宝贝，你不能开我的车
The pandemic has upended America's rental-car market
新冠颠覆了美国的汽车租赁市场
Hawaiians could be forgiven for bewilderment when they saw U-Haul trucks and cargo vans parked on their pristine beaches. In April Kaleo Alau, president of U-Haul in Hawaii, told the local news station that the moving company had received calls from concerned citizens who thought the vehicles' position looked suspicious. "We're like, OK, let's go and check it out, make sure it's not stolen," said Mr Alau. As it turns out, "it's just somebody at the beach!" Hawaii is not the only state where Americans are resorting to unusual forms of transport to get around. The country is facing a national shortage of rental cars because of the recession and disruptions caused by the pandemic.
当夏威夷人看到UHaul(美国卡车租赁公司)卡车和货车停在他们的原始海滩上时，他们的困惑是可以理解的。今年4月，U-Haul在夏威夷的总裁卡利奥·阿劳告诉当地电视台，搬家公司接到了忧心忡忡的市民打来的电话，他们认为这些车辆的位置看起来可疑。阿劳表示：“我们会说，好吧，我们去检查一下，确保它没有被盗。”事实证明，“那就是某人开到沙滩上的！”夏威夷并不是唯一一个美国人要使用不同寻常的交通工具出行的州。由于经济衰退和新冠造成的破坏，美国正面临全国租车短缺的局面。
When lockdowns were imposed last spring, travel came to a standstill. The market for car-hire at airports disappeared almost overnight, says Greg Scott, a spokesman for the American Car Rental Association (ACRA), a trade group. ACRA members laid off or furloughed around 60,000 employees in 2020, about a third of the industry's American workforce. Hertz, a car-hire behemoth, declared bankruptcy last May. Avis, another industry giant, saw its second-quarter revenues decline by 67% year-on-year. Companies sold off their fleets to try to stop the bleeding. They weren't sure if or when demand would recover.
去年春天实行封锁时，旅行陷入停顿。美国汽车租赁协会(ACRA)的发言人格雷格·斯科特说，机场的汽车租赁市场几乎一夜之间消失了。在2020年，ACRA的成员解雇了或让大约6万名员工暂时休假，这约占该行业美国劳动力的三分之一。汽车租赁巨头赫兹(Hertz)去年5月宣布破产。另一个行业巨头Avis第二季度收入同比下降了67%。公司出售了他们的车队试图止血。他们不确定需求是否或何时能够复苏。
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Fast forward, and the summer of 2021 seems to mark a renaissance for the great American road trip. Americans hankering for a getaway but unable to travel abroad have set their sights on Hawaii, Florida or the national parks. Demand for rental cars has rocketed. But because companies have sold off so many vehicles, there are few to be found. An Expedia search for a hire car in Honolulu next weekend showed cars costing at least $350 a day. Twitter is filled with the fulminations of aggrieved travellers who wait hours at an airport counter only to be given a minivan—or nothing at all.
快进到2021年的夏天，伟大的美国公路旅行似乎迎来了复兴。渴望出游但又无法出国旅行的美国人把他们的目光投向了夏威夷、佛罗里达或国家公园。对租车的需求急剧上升。然而由于公司出售了很多汽车，所以汽车很难租到。Expedia(在线旅游公司)搜索檀香山下周末的租车服务，结果显示每天的租车费用至少为350美元。推特上充斥着愤愤不平的旅客的谴责，他们在机场柜台前等待数小时只等到了一辆面包车——或者空空如也。
For rental-car companies, rebuilding fleets will take time. An international shortage of semiconductors, which are used in cars' electronic systems, has slowed manufacturing. A lack of new cars and, perhaps, a hesitancy to return to public transport have pushed up second-hand car sales by 30% in the past year. Things aren't all bad, however. Barclays, a bank, suggests high prices are helping firms recoup their losses.
对于汽车租赁公司来说，重建车队需要时间。用于汽车电子系统的半导体的国际短缺已经减缓了制造业的发展。去年，由于缺乏新车和人们不愿重返公共交通，二手车销量上升了30%。然而，情况并非糟糕透顶。巴克莱银行表示，高价正帮助金融服务公司弥补损失。
All this explains the curious case of the U-Haul on the beach. But the firm is not the only alternative to rental cars. Lyft launched its own car-hire service in 2019, though it too admits that the chip shortage has hurt growth. Some are turning to ride-hailing apps, but prices per ride have spiked because of a lack of drivers. Outdoorsy, an rv rental platform, has seen bookings for its smaller offerings—such as Jeeps and trucks— increase by 10% year-on-year. It seems that the rental car market would have to get even tighter for Americans to fall in love with public transport.
所有这些都解释了海滩上U-Haul的离奇事件。但这家公司并不是租车的唯一选择。2019年，Lyft推出了自己的租车服务，不过该公司也承认芯片短缺损害了增长。有些人转向叫车应用，但由于缺少司机，每次搭车的价格已经飙升。房车租赁平台Outdoorsy其较小的车型，如吉普车和卡车的预订量同比增长了10%。看来只有汽车租赁市场变得更紧凑，美国人才会爱上公共交通。
来源：经济学人
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