Welcome to Colorado, the editor said, and then sent me — the most unlikely person in the whole newsroom — to test-drive the big, new innovation in the pickup industry, the 2017 Ford Super Duty.
I live in Berlin, Germany, and I am a northern European stereotype: When I go to the office, I ride my bike. When I go out at night, I ride my bike. When it rains, I take the subway. When I go to Hamburg or Frankfurt, I take a high-speed train. I do not own a car, and the only ones I ride once in a while must either be practical, such as the tiny Car 2 Go rentals, or fast (like basically all German cars).
And here I am, in the parking lot of the Mile High Stadium, where Ford is presenting its next great thing to journalists.
The premium model can tow more than 16 tons. It has a patented “dynamic beverage holding system,” power deployable running boards, and an automatic tailgate.
But can it impress me, the biking Berliner?
I know, Germany is famous for its car industry. But you will barely find pickups on our narrow streets, and my generation prefers bikes and trains, young families go for a practical car that’s easy to park in the city.
When I think about Ford, I think about the model Ka, the modest pod-shaped car, in which a friend used to drive me to high school. In the American market, Ford does not even offer the Ka. Here, it seems all to be about size.
Karen Mason, Ford’s local PR person, tells me she drives a Ford Escape. “Oh, the big one,” I say. “Well, it’s a rather small SUV,” she replies.
In Germany, you choose a car in part based on its fuel consumption. It is one of the first things you ask your dealer. Here, at the Ford event, nobody talks about miles per gallon. They don’t have to. For now, medium and heavy-duty trucks are exempt from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards. But rules are being hammered out.
Then they ask me to drive a Dodge Ram, a Chevrolet Silverado, and the corresponding models by Ford — which are meant to impress me with their adapted steering technology. They make me test drive eight or 10 different trucks, some with heavy weights, others with trailers, over the race course set up on the stadium’s parking lot.
The driving is fun. But I can’t see what is going on at the far-away back end, even though the trucks were outfitted with mirrors at multiple angles. Despite all the briefings by the friendly Ford people, I do not notice that many differences in steering. I do notice that the Chevrolets are not equipped with a running board, which makes it difficult to climb inside. Ford’s running boards automatically deploy when the door is opened.
What is it that makes so many Coloradans buy pickup trucks? Doug Scott, Ford’s truck group marketing manager, tells me that 90 percent of the Super Duty premium model buyers are “frequent towers,” pulling things like trailers loaded with horses and other equipment.
Mason, the PR person, adds a different perspective: “Here, people buy trucks according to the image they want to present,” she says. Coloradans, she adds, do not want a small or practical car, they want something burly.
Though the driving was fun, I’m not sure I’m ready to change my image to such a degree. I think that for my time in Denver, I will stick to my bike, and when it comes to cars, to practical or fast, but not to burly.
