Car horns used 40 times more often in China than in Europe
Car horns are used 40 times more often in China than in Europe. That was one of the lessons French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen learned when it expanded on the mainland.
Car horns are used 40 times more often in China than in Europe.
That was one of the lessons French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen learned when it expanded on the mainland.
"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".
Fords on the mainland sound different from the softer, often dual, trumpet sound of their North American equivalents, whose drivers are "tuned to frequencies that are not unpleasant, but are just slightly discordant", she wrote.
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.