Petrol Masculinity and the American Dream: Ford F150’s success in China
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. A symbol for rugged individualism, Ford F150 put 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. 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 the Truck of the Year Award for at least once in every generation.
Perhaps one important factor that made F150 so popular in America is the accessibility, that everyone can purchase one. However, Ford F150 tells a different story over the Pacific Ocean. Introduced into the Chinese gray market starting in the 2012 model year, the truck starts at an eye-popping $70000 premium over the American model. Despite the ridiculously high price tag, the truck attracts Chinese buyers like magnets, pushing the price even higher. It is clear that the Chinese have a yearning for horsepower, as the ford f150 has 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, and that is the Americanization of China after the cultural revolution.
The lucky generation, born in the 80s, grew up at the most liberal time in CCP’s history. The economy had an explosive growth after the agonizing ten years of cultural revolution where political correctness was a life and death matter. With the bar lifted, many foreign brands surges into citizens’ lives, including Coca-Cola, Hollywood, and McDonald's. The CCP allegedly got unrest because of how well known the face of Ronald MacDonald is. As a result, the generation had a different opinion of cars while they reached the car buying age in their forties. While older buyers who grew up with passats and citroens refuse to buy anything that is not a sedan, the new generation of buyers opted for more individualism. Many view American Dream as the new individualism, which is widely accepted among the elites due to their education abroad and the influence of American culture in their daily lives. Up to the point where the Trump administration fired the first shot of the full-on trade war, many Chinese elites idolizes the American culture of freedom and equality and wants to express their resentment toward uniform and tame Chinese culture in the last 50 years, which is explains why they would buy such a fuel-inefficient and humongous truck that looks out of place in China. In fact, the success of the ford f150 in the gray market triggered a surge of copycats of US full-size pickups on smaller traditional pickup chassis in China. Although a virtually non-existent market for personal vehicles, the pickup segment grew quickly into a sturdy profitable segment in China thanks to the introduction of Ford F150 trucks.
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.
