re-badge
ホンダは海外向け高級車ブレンド、Acuraを主戦力に中国での市場拡大を狙っています。
Honda aims for China jackpot with Acura SUV
As part of a broader makeover, and even the survival, of its stalled luxury Acura brand, Honda Motor Co. will launch a new small crossover sport utility vehicle this year in China to compete with BMW and Audi in the world’s biggest car market, two individuals closely involved in the effort said.
Reviving Acura is one of the biggest challenges facing Takahiro Hachigo, who took over as Honda CEO last year. The brand has struggled to carve out a clear identity as a sporty, high-performance luxury label.
Since entering China a decade ago, Acura has struggled, selling just over 4,000 cars last year compared with BMW’s 460,000 and Audi’s 554,000. And in the United States, where Acura debuted three decades ago, sales have failed to top the 201,000 cars it sold as far back as 2006, according to industry consultant IHS. Sales last year were 179,000, around half the number of cars sold by both BMW and Toyota’s Lexus luxury marque.
中略
Part of the Acura identity issue is that there is little to differentiate between the upscale brand and mainstream Honda cars, with a quiet recognition inside Honda that Acura cars are in many cases merely “re-badged” Honda cars, the two individuals said.
以下省略
今回取り上げるのは“re-badge”になります。
”badge”「[名] 1.記章、バッジ 2.象徴、印 [動]…に記章をつける」に、接頭辞reが加わった”rebadge”の過去分詞を形容詞的に用いたものになります。Cambridge Dictionaries Onlineには” to sell an existing product using a new brand name or symbol”とあります、また商業用語、特にマーケティングに使われるものになります。
既存の商品に、新たな名前やロゴをつけて売り出す際に使われるものようです。手元の英和辞書には記載されていなかったため、「アルク 英辞郎 on the Web」でその定義を確認すると「1.〜を改名する、〜の名前［ロゴ］を付け替える 2.〜に新しい名前［ロゴ］をつけて発表［発売］する」とあります。本文中ではAcuraはホンダの高級車との違いはほとんどなく、単に名前を変えて売り出しているだけなのではと指摘する際に用いられています。(あいづ)
