As the Chinese auto market continues to expand, foreign automakers are tailoring their designs to Chinese tastes. At South China Morning Post, Patrick Boehler reports that frequent use of car horns in China, 40 times more often than in Europe, is driving carmakers to adapt:
“In Europe, a car horn is used 10,000 times on average,” Pierre Frederic Lebelle, head of the company’s Shanghai-based China Tech Centre, told Le Monde newspaper. “In China, it’s 400,000 times.”
Peugeot is not the only carmaker adapting its horns to Chinese tastes. US carmaker Ford came up with an electronic horn for its Chinese customers, wrote motoring blogger Nooralia Zaharin, because they “drive with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the horn … they want it to sound melodic”.
[…] Cars don’t sell in China if they are not made to suit local driving habits. “The major question is how to adapt to Chinese consumers,” said Klaus Paur, global head of automotive at Ipsos. [Source]
Meanwhile, the latest fuel economy regulations and license plate quotas in China are putting domestic car manufacturers at a disadvantage.
