近日，一个来自美国的汽车“开箱”视频漂洋过海在中国的社交网络上引起关注。
Jason Torchinsky是美国一个汽车评论网站的资深编辑，平时也算得上阅车无数。但最近他从阿里巴巴的海外网站上购买了一辆神奇小车，意外收获快乐。
Torchinsky称这辆小车为“世界上最便宜的新车”，这款小型的电动车裸车价格只要930美元。即使加上运费和关税，这辆小车也只花了他大概3000美元，而在美国，一辆高尔夫球车的价格在5000到10000美元之间。
The unboxing video of a U.S. car reviewer has got the attention of Chinese social media with netizens mentioning it shows the growing influence of China's mobility scooter industry.
Jason Torchinsky, a senior editor of an American car review website, and one of the most recent owners a Chinese scooter, said that as "goofy and absurd as it all may be, it is not some porta-potty on wheels." His new purchase was made on the English portal of Alibaba.com, one of China's largest e-commerce companies.
Calling it "the world's cheapest new car," the editor seemed to be generally pleased with his new mobility scooter made by Chinese manufacturer Changli, which cost him around 3,000 U.S. dollars, with shipping costs and tariffs included.
Jason Torchinsky, an american car reviewer, unboxing his new Changli electric vehicle. /Jalopnik.com
He said compared with the regular price of a golf cart in the U.S. (between 5,000 to 10,000 U.S. dollars), the electric vehicle he bought was only priced at 930 U.S. dollars.
让Torchinsky更高兴的是，这款车的车身是由金属组装的，它配备了“一个真正的方向盘架、真正的悬架”和相关的充电装置。看起来，一辆真正的汽车应该拥有的装置它都有，除了“汽车”这个名字。
Torchinsky was even more pleased by the fact that the car body is made of metal instead of plastic, with "a real steering rack, real suspension," and related charging devices. It seems that the vehicle has everything but the name of a real car.
"How much does this actually seem like a car as opposed to some glorified mobility scooter or something, and I'm happy to say, this is a car," he said in the review.
虽然中国的一些低端电动车因其高性价比而受到海外评论者的赞赏，但实际上，在阿里巴巴的国内购物网站，淘宝网上买到同类型的电动滑板车是不可能的，因为在中国街道上驾驶这种车辆通常是违法的。
在中国，这种类型的车辆有一个更广为人知的名字——“老年代步车”，它最初是为老年人或残疾人设计的。
但这类车辆通常没有牌照，也不符合中国交通部门规定的大多数车辆安全标准。
While some Chinese low-end mobility scooters are appreciated by overseas reviewers for their cost-effectiveness, it is actually impossible to purchase the same type of mobility scooter on Taobao.com, Alibaba's domestic shopping website, because it's mostly illegal to ride on such vehicle on Chinese streets.
A mobility scooter is stopped by Chinese police. /Photo: sohu.com
This type of vehicle is more commonly known as "mobility scooters for the elderly" in Chinese, as it was first designed for the elderly or people with disabilities.
Such scooters usually don't come with a license plate and are not in compliance with most of the vehicle safety standards prescribed by China's transportation departments.
据新华社报道，在过去五年中，中国发生了超过83万起与代步车使用者有关的交通事故，造成超过1.8万人死亡，18.6万人受伤。
In China, there were over 830,000 cases of accidents in the last five years related to mobility scooter users, which caused more than 18,000 deaths and 186,000 injuries, according to Xinhua.