Chinese Demand for Big Vehicles Means Big Incentive for Ford
Last week we reported that Ford would be selling the Ford F-150, including the off-road monster Raptor in China in 2017. It was one of 96 markets where the new F-150 will be available. China is ripe for Ford vehicles, but not necessarily for the reasons we’d think. Here in the United States, we like big SUVs for a lot of reasons, but in China they like them because of the perceived safety. Big vehicles are almost necessarily for survival.
Of course having a big vehicle doesn’t guarantee your safety one the road. A recent reveal of how safe half-ton pickup trucks are from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that not all trucks are as safe as you’d think. But the perception is that the bigger the vehicle, the safer it is. That’s part of the reason for the boon of SUVs and big trucks in China.
According to a story on recently on Yahoo!, Chinese are deathly afraid of dying on the streets in China. This growing vehicle economy just doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle it. It’s not just people dying in accidents, but getting medical attention after an accident can take precious, life-saving time. Over 250,000 people are killed on Chinese roads every year, and with closed-circuit security cameras everywhere, many of these accidents are shown on TV in gory detail.
It sounds like if I were heading to China, I’d want a Raptor. The F-150 is the safest pickup truck on sale, and the Raptor seems to be one of the better ways to avoid dying on Chinese roads.
What do you think? Let us know in the forums!
via [Yahoo!]
