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Published on February 21, 2019 | by Carolyn Fortuna
February 21, 2019 by Carolyn Fortuna
China has become the largest car market in the world due to the explosive growth of private car ownership in this country. On the one hand, Chinese decision-makers need to develop sustainable transport policies, including those aimed at reducing car demand. On the other hand, they must continue to promote the auto industry in the name of economic growth.
Understanding the cultural currents that underlie car ownership, the future growth of the car, and driver behavior is an interesting task. Identifying Chinese attitudes and the socio-cultural context surrounding the explosive growth in the number of car owners can help us consider what will happen.
As Tesla is increasingly interested in the Chinese car market, it is useful to look at what has worked. A new Tesla YouTube video, "Camping with Model S", gives an overview.
Tesla's wide reach in new markets is part of different social norms and frameworks
Let's just say it: many news today are so biased that they are unreliable. This is because some writers do not have a broad social perspective and they develop their arguments within the narrow culture of their own communities. As long-time Tesla admirers, we must be ready to accept new social frameworks – values, customs, stereotypes, conventions – when we take into account the horizons that Tesla goes through to reach new buyers, even entirely new markets.
We can use "Camping with Model S" as a teaching moment, a cultural opportunity to expand our common meaning of Tesla. If we can do this, if we can perceive the cultural norms and values of others as salient and rewarding, we will have a better understanding of how the context influences the ownership of the Tesla car.
YouTube video begins with the Model S slipping on a deserted portion of asphalt parking. The golden grassy waves create a gentle barrier to the traffic lane beyond. "Normally on weekends," begins the voice over in Mandarin, the main dialect spoken in Beijing, "I would like to lie down or watch movies." A camera drone flies over and jumps just above the slightly shifting herbs.
"After buying a Tesla, I think my personality has changed a lot." We now see the speaker, a black-haired man with a complementary dark zipper jacket. "The hobbies I developed after the purchase of my Tesla" – is heading for the backlit Model S – "include many more outdoor activities".
In China, where outdoor physical activity was a traditional practice, but where rapid industrialization had led to major environmental degradation, this statement linked traditional Chinese values with the future, with that complement nature rather than threaten it.
"If I suddenly want to go somewhere, I'd just pick up my car and leave somewhere." I wondered where was the highest possible place in this country with a car. In this context, with Tesla's touch screen capturing the viewer's eye, we must take the word "higher" to the letter: the speaker wants to enter the Tesla. Model S and drive to the top of the nearest mountain. However, symbolism also comes into play, because "the highest" refers to the peak of social status, or an ethereal feeling of human escape, or a sense of dominance and superiority. All of these concepts can be associated with the Tesla or Tesla property.
"So I shared this idea with my friends who own Tesla," says the narrator. The terms "individualism" and "collectivism" come to mind. Here, the speaker balances individualist and collectivist tendencies. He is attracted to others who, like him, have the rarefied experience of the Tesla Model S property. This is an interesting aspect of Tesla's property: on the one hand, it represents the individual achievements and unusual successes, and, on the other hand, it is a vast community of similar values, or even a "revolution". This is an attractive attraction for individualism and collectivism.
In this case, because "five of them have said they want to go", we are witnessing the emergence of a Tesla Model S culture among some Chinese.
The Tesla Model S then travels the road. "Over there, we ate dinner and chatted with each other." At this point, we see the speaker filmed from the back while he was placing a travel bag on the grassy sidewalk. The camera leans to show it sitting in a folding outdoor chair, looking forward with the dim light of the end of the day. When he says, "We all slept in our cars," our western tendency might be to remember being stopped in a rainy truck with dazzling lights and the loud sound of tractor-trailers coming in and out of them. highway straps. (You can say mine is.)
In this case, however, the Model S is more reminiscent of the Volkswagen bus, in that the experience is collaborative and cathartic, a break from the everyday, normality and social conventions of the dominant environment. Does it sound like Tesla? Do you like Elon Musk?
Rather than adhere to compliance, these Tesla Model S owners go beyond static to exclusivity. The Model S is a bridge or a first step in the attempt to elevate you above mediocrity, or it proves that you have already reached a special level above the fray.
"I guess you can call it a car home," says the speaker, slipping a sparse mattress in place at the back of the car. Individuals work as a unit to exercise freedom, experience the outdoors and unite through shared experiences. For us, in the Western world, this nocturnal excursion to geographical heights is difficult to identify exactly as temporal or spiritual. It may be a bit of both.
"I think the Tesla is the ideal car for relaxing trips." According to polls, 42% of Beijing's white-collar workers say they are under great pressure at work. In 2015, the stress level of senior executives reached a new high of nearly 78%. The concept of a night commute in the Model S as a means of relieving stress is important because it can interest a large part of the population. This may also correspond to Taoism, where effortless action inspires a state of harmony, grace, connection to ourselves, movement, and operation in a dynamic and spontaneous way – out of this world while it is in this world.
Images from YouTube / Tesla
About the author
Carolyn Fortuna Carolyn Fortuna, Ph.D. is a writer, researcher and educator who has always been involved in eco-justice. She has won awards from the Anti-Defamation League, the International Association for Literacy and the Leavy Foundation. It integrates scholarship with digital media and learns how to raise awareness of sustainable development issues. Please follow me on Twitter and Facebook and Google+
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