Driving Skills for Life

XIAMEN, China-- 2012 Changan Ford (CAF) Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) program held its closing stop successfully on December 28 in Xiamen, a coastal city China's Fujian province. Around 70 journalists from various media outlets including print, TV and online joined the final stop. In the spirit of 'Go Further', Ford's new brand promise announced in China during the 2012 Guangzhou Auto Show, CAF DSFL serves as a great platform of promoting safe and eco driving skills among Chinese customers as well as raising the awareness of a more responsible driving style. "We're serious about safety and environmental responsibility at CAF, and we think that a program to help our Chinese customers develop safe and efficient driving skills is tremendously important," said Marin Burela, president of Changan Ford Automobile Company. "CAF is not just a car producer; we also have moral and ethical responsibilities. Apart from providing high quality, green, safe and smart cars to our loyal Chinese customers, we're also committed to promoting safe and green driving skills they can use every day." Introduced to China in 2009, CAF DSFL is built on the momentum of Ford Driving Skills for Life program. In 2012, CAF expanded this program to the 5- and 6-tier cities in China to cater to different customer needs on safe and energy-saving driving skills. This year, around 4,000 customers in 60 Chinese cities learned the driving skills through the free training program and by 2012, over 14,000 customers in 189 cities have become the beneficiaries of this free program in China since its inception. In the last stop, Changan Ford driver, Rainy He, the CTCC Champion racer, was invited to the event. He took the opportunity to share his driving tips and, more importantly, remind the participants of some simple but often forgotten driving principles that lead to a more responsible driving style. In addition to the regular training program, several online videos featuring good driving practices were also introduced for the very first time into the CFA DSFL program, which have gained positive feedback from participants. Participants were more aware of important safe driving tips after watching these videos, such as avoid carrying unnecessary stuff in the car to save fuel and using child safety seats for children passengers. A DSFL Q & A session on Sina-Weibo, the most popular micro-blogging site in China, successfully created buzz among online participants and encouraged more off-site interaction for the program. With the new brand promise 'Go Further', CAF in 2013 will continue to promote the DSFL training program among Chinese drivers and reach out further to customers in China's third to six-tier cities with diverse training courses focusing on safe & green driving skills and good driving habits.

Links:

• Instructional video series