煙草在線據天空新聞報道編譯　　英美煙草公司準備在電子卷煙市場上推出重磅產品，因為它試圖加強在煙草替代品方面的銷售。

　　天空新聞了解到，這家在銷量上位列世界第二大的煙草公司，將于幾個月內在英國、法國和德國推出一個新的電子卷煙品牌Vype。

　　在英美煙草公司去年收購位于曼徹斯特的一家專門從事電子卷煙產品的CN創意公司（CN Creative）之后，推出了這一產品，并且得到數百萬英鎊的營銷預算支持。

　　由于大煙草公司包裝和營銷傳統卷煙產品的能力面臨著越來越多的打壓，甚至是在那些他們以前可以自由操作的市場。

　　英美煙草公司的首席執行官尼坎德羅·杜蘭特（Nicandro Durante）曾預測，在20年的時間里，煙草替代品可能會占到公司總收入的40%，根據目前的增長率，這可能使他們負責至少100億英鎊的年銷售額。

　　業內人士表示，Vype將是一款重命名的CN創意公司產品，而不是一個全新的產品。

　　推進被稱為“更安全卷煙”的一類產品，激怒了一些活動家，他們認為這只是在運用一種公共關系，其真正的目的是鼓勵年輕消費者熟悉吸煙的習慣。

　　在政府決定放棄迫使制造商只使用平裝銷售產品的立法時，最近關于卷煙包裝的爭論更加激烈了。

UK: BAT Smokes Out E-Cigarette Rivals

　　British American Tobacco (BAT) is preparing to launch its biggest assault to date on the electronic cigarette market as it attempts to bolster sales of tobacco substitute products.

　　Sky News understands that the world's second-biggest tobacco company by sales is to launch Vype, a new e-cigarette brand, in the UK, France and Germany in the coming months.

　　The launch, which will be backed by a multimillion pound marketing budget, follows BAT's acquisition last year of CN Creative, a Manchester-based company that specialises in e-cigarette products.

　　It comes as the major tobacco companies continue to face growing clampdowns on their ability to package and market conventional cigarette products, even in markets where they have previously enjoyed the freedom to do so.

　　Nicandro Durante, BAT chief executive, has previously forecast that tobacco alternatives could make up 40% of the company's revenue in 20 years' time, which would probably make them responsible for at least ￡10bn of annual sales based on current growth rates.

　　Insiders said that Vype would be a renamed CN Creative product rather than an entirely new launch.

　　The push into a category dubbed 'safer cigarettes' has angered some campaigners, who believe they are a public relations exercise whose real purpose is to encourage young consumers to become familiar with the habit of smoking.

　　The row over cigarette packaging recently intensified with the Government's decision to drop legislation that would have forced manufacturers to use only plain packaging to sell their products. Enditem