两年一度的北京国际车展，即将在明天开幕。中国本土厂商的进步，让国际媒体也大加赞扬。可在商务部提出中国拟取消外方在汽车合资企业中占股比 50% 限制的新挑战下下，中国本土车企是否会因此失去竞争力呢？

史蒂文老师邀请了两位业内好友 -- 大学学长、世界最大车企的前中层管理者，和高中死党、上汽资深工程师，分别站在合资企业的外方和本土车企的不同角度，来谈谈他们对此问题的个人看法。来自业内的声音，附在文末。

每天清晨15分钟，史蒂文老师带你喝一杯经济学人浓缩咖啡，了解天下事，掌握核心词。

这是 Economist Espresso 栏目的第67篇精选文章：

● 听和读，记要点

Domestic chores: Beijing’s motor show

The world’s big carmakers and their Chinese counterparts are on the same road: to China’s flagship motor show, which opens this week.

It will give another indication that global carmaking’s centre of gravity is shifting to the world’s largest car market. Western carmakers, which depend heavily on China, will show plenty of new models to lure the country’s growing middle class.

But what will draw the most interest is the progress of domestic firms, such as Geely, SAIC and GAC. Dominant at the cheaper end of the market, these firms have improved quality from awful to surprisingly good. As they get better, their prospects of growing at home as well as exporting increases.

But first they must get more competitive. China’s recent pledge to lift a 50% cap on foreign participation in joint ventures is a fork in the road that may isolate them from partner brands on which they have relied for profits.

● 给文中的 TOEFL / SAT 单词标注中文注释

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