For China buyers, the back seat is a front-burner issue

SHANGHAI -- To learn just how different the Chinese Ford Kuga compact crossover is from its North American sibling, the Ford Escape, step into the back seat.

Most American car owners rarely ride there. But to many Chinese customers, the back seat might be the most important space in the vehicle. Chinese businesspeople, particularly in thriving coastal cities, frequently have chauffeurs. They transact business with clients while shuttling from place to place in the congested, often heart-stopping traffic. The rear seat is a subtle but important signifier of the owner's status.

Now that China has passed the United States as the world's largest car market, automakers are designing vehicles to suit the tastes of Chinese customers. In some cases, major vehicle launches are happening in China. In others, vehicles are significantly revamped for sale there.

The Kuga is a prime example. It shares the same sheet metal and Ford's global compact platform with the Escape. Closer inspection reveals a myriad of fascinating differences, some of them major -- including a more spacious and luxurious back seat. And there's an ash cup for smokers because many Chinese smoke.

Raj Nair, Ford's group vice president of global product development, says despite different tastes in some areas, Chinese customers generally want the same technology and features as other leading markets.

"The global customer is converging," says Nair, formerly head of Ford's Asia Pacific product development office. "The global convergence is happening fastest in China."

That allows automakers to shrink the number of platforms and use more common parts to achieve economies of scale.

"If you have the core product and its components pretty much standardized and are making them in flexible, agile, lean factories, that means you have the ability to customize much more effectively than 20 or 30 years ago," says Dave Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Ford's rivals also are rushing to satisfy Chinese buyers. For instance, Buick showed its Riviera concept at the recent Shanghai auto show rather than at a major U.S. show.

And when Mercedes-Benz introduced the next generation of its flagship S-class sedan last month, CEO Dieter Zetsche said the needs of China's customers topped the list of priorities because one of two S classes is now sold there. China will soon be the world's top luxury market, a place from which vehicle innovations increasingly will migrate to other parts of the world.

General Motors, the No. 2 carmaker in China, has been successful in adapting Western platforms to Chinese tastes. GM studied the market carefully before introducing the Buick Regal into China in 1999 two years after its North American debut in 1997, says Rudy Schlais, former president of General Motors China.

"We modified the Regal considerably. There are like 600-plus major changes to make it acceptable to the China market," says Schlais, who retired from GM in 2001 and now heads ASL Automobile Science and Technology (Shanghai) Co., a technology transfer company. "That's one of the first vehicles that was focused on the Chinese customer."

He adds: "Legroom in back is extremely important. That's one of the big things we ran into in Japan and China is that our American and European designs didn't comprehend that customer need."

But it's not always easy to add rear-seat legroom. GM could stretch the Regal without hurting ride and handling because it has a very stiff platform, Schlais adds: "You don't just cut it and stretch it and assume you will have a good vehicle."

In Western car design, the center of attention is the driver. In China, there's more emphasis on the other people who will be riding in the car, including family, friends and business associates. Mercedes-Benz addressed the issue during the recent global launch of the S class.

"Engineers traditionally focus on the driver seat position," Zetsche said in an interview at the launch in Hamburg, Germany. "S-class owners often experience their car from 'the second row,' especially in China."

To help keep future S-class customers in China happy, Mercedes for the first time made the long-wheelbase version the basis for the entire model line's development.

Ford didn't stretch the Kuga's wheelbase to adapt it to China. But the company did find other ways to carve out more rear-seat legroom.

Ford shortened the seat cushions and sculpted out space from the rear of the front seats, says Trevor Worthington, car and SUV vehicle director for Ford's Asia Pacific region. Worthington is a lanky Australian, well over 6 feet tall, who has plenty of room to sit in the rear of the Kuga as he points out what makes the Chinese vehicle more luxurious than its U.S. counterpart.

"The leather, and the material we use in the inserts is more expensive; it's plusher; it's more comfortable" in the Chinese vehicle, says Worthington. "It's got more grain on it because the Chinese customer will be sitting in the back seat and putting his hand on it and going, 'Wow, that's really nice.'"

Worthington could spend all day pointing out the differences in the North American and Chinese adaptations of the same vehicle. The Kuga has more elaborate headlights and taillights. There is more chrome in the grille work, a plusher ride and a Mandarin-language version of Ford's Sync system. The interior colors are lighter.

Chris Svensson, former Ford design director for Asia-Pacific who recently was named lead exterior designer for the Americas, says Chinese customers "are very detail-orientated."

"They like a lot of chrome and brightwork. In Europe or even here, dark colors or the sporty black grilles, you can get away with a moodier looking front or back," Svensson said. "The Chinese prefer bright grilles or bright finishes."

The Kuga also comes with Active City Stop, a collision avoidance feature not offered on the Escape, and lane keeping assist.

A loaded Escape Titanium has a sticker price of $35,765, including shipping, in the United States, while a top-of-the-line Kuga Titanium has a price of 275,800 Chinese yuan, or about $44,500 at current exchange rates. It's a price the Chinese market will bear, given the fact that many customers pay with cash and have extensive savings.

Worthington says a well-equipped Kuga will sell at "a very healthy margin."

He adds: "We make a better margin on a well-equipped SUV than on a well-equipped sedan. We're making sure we fill the plants with a profitable outcome."

Douglas Bolduc contributed to this report