American Truck Fever in China
“America’s Truck — Built Ford Tough”
Even those who express no interest in automobiles know the Ford F-series pickup truck. In fact, Ford F150 is the most successful Pickup in America. Coming in a variety of trims, it suits the occasion from construction sites and farms to Beverly Hills and Mulholland Drive. The iconic truck also appears on screen for many movies including fast and furious and Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino.
As an owner of a 73’ ford truck, I acknowledge that it is neither efficient, quiet nor could keep up with traffic, yet sitting inside the utilitarian cab, listening to the whizzing sound of wind seeping through the badly manufactured window seals accompanied by the growling of the under stressed engine, I get the feeling that I could only describe as a state of total relaxation and security that nothing, and I mean nothing will intrude my freedom. Put simply, the truck is not just made in America, it is America shaped into a personal vehicle. Therefore, it is not hard to understand why the half ton pickup sits comfortably on the leaderboard for the best-selling vehicle in the US for the past 36 years while enjoying baskets of awards including Truck of the Year Award for at least once in every generation.
Many attribute the success of ford F150 in America to ruggedness individualism. Hsu argues the American society is built on a premise that people must be self-reliant and outperform others, therefore the “rugged individualist is driven to treat all other human beings as things to be manipulated, coerced or eliminated, if they happen to get in the way of his forward march” (Hirschman 2003[men, dogs, guns, and cars]). This self-centered mentality requires a good tool that the owner can use to march forward. Not only does the utilitarian side of the ford F150 excel in this aspect, but the owner is even more happy when they see the many cultural emphases specific to America in details such as gun rack option on the rear window and American Flag shaped into the center console.
However, the truck tells a different story across the Pacific Ocean. Introduced into the Chinese gray market starting in the 2012 model year, the truck starts at an eye-popping $50000 premium over the American model. Despite the ridiculously high price tag, the truck appeals many nouveau riche Chinese buyers.
It is clear that these buyers have a yearning for low stress horsepower, as the ford f150 have a displacement of three times the normal sedans Chinese drive. While I concede with that factor on the surface, there is a deep driving force behind the purchase, which is the growing individualism which justifies spending the budget of a traditional luxury sedan on a different, bold American full size pickup truck.
As a correction from the cultural revolution where economy staggered due to the party’s emphasis on one’s political background to determine if they would be sent to the workforce or jail, the chairman Deng proposes a plan to seek socialism through capitalist economic approach. Although it achieved great success and jumpstarted China’s staggering economy, Deng did so by stimulating the workers with individualistic goals and awards. In fact, beginning in the 80s, Chinese now “stands emphatically opposed to the collectivist spirit promoted during the Cultural Revolution” (NIH article). This would mean many new cultures started to gain recognition in the public, including Hollywood movies. The Hollywood culture quickly won over many young people. With many characters failing when they are modest and taking in others’ responsibility but achieving great success when they finally lost it and simply looked tough and kick everyone who’s in their way, the young Chinese generation starts to question the value of modesty and endurance(source). Therefore, as the car market starts to expand in China, many people opted for bigger cars and SUVs which have a larger presence on the road. Unlike American’s choice of rugged individualism, Chinese buyers only wanted to buy bigger cars. Although this proves problematic for other small and efficient car drivers, who felt intimidated by the large vehicles, the owner of the SUVs will not care because after all, individualism takes no account of others’ feelings as long as themselves succeed (Proquest 1). In that aspect, the flashy, oversized American pickup trucks translate extremely well because it is easily the largest family vehicle on the road and look down menacingly toward other cars.
However, despite the gray market success of the ford f150 truck, the foreign factor still limits sales. Although the import of F150 trucks started the new era of luxury personal pickups in China, what really takes off is a similarly designed knockoff variant from a local brand called the Great Wall motors. Its success is largely due to nationalism. With individualism on the rise, Beijing identified this trend would eventually question the legitimacy of the single-party rule of the CCP, and the only way to resolve is to funnel the individualism toward nationalism (NIH). The emphasis on nationalism sets the boundary where people cannot express their interest simply because it is not made domestically. Therefore, when a similar variant still embodies the individualistic values of the original F150 truck, it attracts buyers like a magnet, creating a virtually non-existent market for personal vehicles, the pickup segment grew quickly into a sturdy profitable segment in China.
In comparison, in another overseas market in Europe, this level of success never happened with America’s full-size pickup imports. Instead of admiring the petrol masculinity of the trucks, Europeans view the truck as over-extravagant and wasteful, much like what they view American fast food.
Sources
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1821650843?accountid=14749&pq-origsite=primo
