As China revs up its shift to a consumption-led growth model, policymakers are trying to get more mileage out of a sputtering part of the economy: the used car market.

随着中国加速向消费拉动型增长模式转型，政策制定者正努力让一个正噼啪作响的经济引擎再多转几转，那就是二手车市场。

In most developed economies, sales of second-hand cars outnumber those of new vehicles by about two to one but the opposite is true in China, the world’s largest market for new vehicles.

在多数发达经济体，二手车销量是新车销量的两倍左右，但中国恰恰相反。中国是全球最大的新车市场。

“The majority of the vehicles in China are still owned by the first owner; secondary-owned vehicles are the minority,” says Bill Russo, a Shanghai-based consultant. “That is unlike any other country.”

“中国大多数汽车仍是一手车；二手车占少数，”驻上海的咨询顾问罗威(Bill Russo)表示，“这与其他国家不同。”

To help stimulate the nascent market, Beijing recently introduced a policy that allows old cars from big cities to be resold in smaller ones, a move that is only now taking full effect. Previously, to protect local businesses, government regulations prevented cars being sold across provincial borders.

为了帮助刺激这个新生市场，中国政府最近出台一项政策，允许大城市的旧车在较小城市销售，此举现在才开始全面实施。以前，为了保护地方企业，政府的规定阻碍了跨省销售汽车。

This will “open the pipeline”, according to Mr Russo. “Cars [in China] may be born in upper-tier regions but they tend to retire in lower-tier regions,” he says.

罗威表示，这将“打开管道”。他表示：“（在中国）汽车可能会在较发达地区‘出生’，但往往会在不那么发达的地区‘退休’。”

Though huge, China’s car market is in its infancy. Until 1984 it remained technically illegal for individuals to own a car and low personal wealth meant sales did not take off until the mid-2000s.

中国汽车市场尽管规模庞大，但仍处于新生阶段。1984年以前，严格说来，个人拥有汽车是非法的，个人财富低下使得汽车销量直到2005年左右才开始腾飞。

The country’s transition into a “new normal” of annual economic growth below 7 per cent following years of double-digit rises is potentially painful for carmakers accustomed to breakneck demand for new models. For used-car sales, however, newly thrifty consumers and a growing number of ageing vehicles are a promising combination.

在经历多年两位数增长后，中国经济正朝着年增速低于7%的“新常态”转型，对于习惯了新车型需求旺盛的汽车制造商而言这可能是痛苦的。然而，对于二手车销售而言，新出现的节俭型消费者和数量越来越多的老旧汽车是一个颇有希望的组合。

The government sees the used-car market as a way to boost consumption among those with lower incomes.

中国政府将二手车市场视为扩大较低收入人群消费的一种方式。

Rising supply, combined with government support and moves by manufacturers to encourage car owners to upgrade sooner, promises to see the second-hand market grow at more than double the speed of that for new cars, according to Alex Klose, founder of JZWcars.com, a used car website. The entrepreneur, Volvo’s former chief executive for China, set up his company in 2014 with the aim of becoming a trusted platform for a nascent market. “One thing holding people back from buying a used car is not knowing whether they can trust it,” he says.

二手车网站驾值网(JZWcars.com)创始人柯力世(Alex Klose)表示，供应量日益增长、政府支持、加上汽车制造商采取措施鼓励车主更快升级，令二手车市场的增长速度有望超过新车的两倍。这位沃尔沃(Volvo)前中国区首席执行官于2014年创建了自己的公司，目标是成为这个新生市场的一个可信平台。他表示：“阻止人们购买二手车的一个原因是，他们不知道二手车可不可靠。”

Mr Klose is not alone in seeing the potential for second-hand cars. A flock of online platforms and technology start-ups have recently entered the sector. “Everyone thinks that the space for growth in second-hand cars is very big — they think the sector is a very big cake,” says Li He, founder of Limiku.com, a used-car financing platform.

柯力世并非唯一看到二手车市场潜力的人。近来，有很多在线平台和创业型科技企业进入了该行业。二手车融资平台厘米库(Limiku.com)创始人李贺表示：“所有人都认为，二手车增长空间非常大，他们认为这个行业是一块非常大的蛋糕。”

Mr Li, a tech industry veteran, believes online platforms are helping to improve the supply chain — a job he says big distributors are failing to do. “The vast majority [of major distributors] have a second-hand car department but in reality they don’t have standards for the whole supply chain, including pricing and evaluation.”

李贺是一位科技业资深人士，他认为，在线平台有利于改善供应链，他表示这是大型经销商未能做到的事情。“绝大多数（大型经销商）设有二手车部门，但实际上，他们没有为整个供应链提供标准，包括定价和评估。”

Big carmakers are encouraging their dealerships to stop dragging their feet, however, as they seek a new source of profit for dealers. Over-dependence on a single stream of revenue has sparked tensions between manufacturers and dealers in the past, when distributors asked for compensation for their losses during slow sales periods.

然而，大型汽车制造商正鼓励经销商不再裹足不前，他们正为经销商寻找新的利润来源。过去，过于依赖单一收入来源引发了制造商与经销商之间的紧张关系，当时，经销商要求弥补他们在销量放缓时期的损失。

As dealerships look to evolve their business models, there is one set of people who are watching with trepidation: the original used-car salesmen.

随着经销商考虑改变业务模式，一些人变得不安起来，那就是最初的二手车销售人员。

Dong Wei has been selling used cars from his shoebox office at Beijing’s oldest and largest “old car market” since the 1990s. “Before, they [big dealerships] didn’t bother with second-hand cars, because the profits for new cars were so high,” he says. “Now they are starting to change their model.”

自上世纪90年代以来，董伟（音译）一直在他位于北京历史最久且最大的“旧车市场”的一间小办公室里销售二手车。“以前，他们（大型经销商）对二手车不感兴趣，因为新车利润很高，”他表示，“现在他们开始改变模式。”

Mr Dong is nervous that disruption in the sector means the glory days for small-time salesmen are over. “Before, the market would be full of people. These days, people prefer to go online.”

董伟担心，现在行业中的颠覆性趋势意味着，小规模销售人员的辉煌时代已经结束。“以前，市场里人山人海。如今，人们更愿意在网上购买。”