For Jane Brownley, buying a car means making a commitment for eight or 10 years, something she doesn’t take lightly. The proud owner of a new CLK 320 two-door Mercedes coupe, Brownley first spotted her dream car at last year’s Chicago Auto Show.
“It was cute and I could see myself driving it,” says the 40-something technical manager for a telecommunications company. “I wanted something sporty. I wanted something a little bit more upscale. I tend to keep cars for a long time, so I knew I would be going into my 50s with this car.”
Brownley’s obsidian Mercedes is definitely not your mother’s Oldsmobile. An engineer who admits an attraction to gadgets, Brownley especially loves the hands-free phone with keypad built into the dashboard and the satellite-based Global Positioning System that can send a distress signal to the Mercedes service center if she needs help.
“Being a single woman in a metropolitan, urban area, that’s a real comforting feature to have,” Brownley notes. “If I ever get lost, I can press a button and they can locate me and get me where I want to go. If I have an emergency situation, they can find me.”
Like Brownley, the average female car buyer is savvy, informed and the most likely person in the family to decide which vehicle to buy.
Automotive News estimates that women influence up to 80 percent of all vehicle purchases, and they buy more than a third of all new cars and light trucks.
Statistics like these have forced manufacturers to not only sit up and take notice but to devise new ways to reach, and satisfy, female car buyers. Vehicles designed with women-especially moms-in mind are apt to be roomier and more comfortable. Touchable fabrics like suede are replacing stiff leather interiors, while dark fake wood is giving way to blond laminates. Safety features, including one-touch window controls, remote keyless entry and automatic driver’s door locks, rank high on the list of must-haves.
“You can see the influence of women in accessories, and we’re not just talking about video games in the back seat,” says Becky Huber, who is content manager for eAutoWorld.com, an online conference site for industry executives, front-line managers and dealers. “The adjustable foot pedals-they have them in some of the high-performance sports cars like [Dodge] Viper but now even the [Ford] Taurus is going to have them.
“Me being a short woman, I slide the seat almost completely up under the steering wheel, which is not good if you have an air bag,” Huber adds. “So now you can reach under and turn a knob and the pedals actually move forward so that you don’t have to cram yourself up under the steering wheel. Women are not just influencing the purchase of the cars but the actual design in their demands.”
Research shows that women want more than just stereotypical girly-girl features.
A study released in January by Polk, the oldest compiler of automobile records in the U.S., shows that women place more importance on state-of-the-art electronic accessories, or tele-matics, such as voice-activated controls or in-vehicle access to e-mail, when buying a new car than do men.
“Women represent a strong purchasing force in the auto industry,” says Yolanda Reid, Polk’s loyalty research manager. “The auto industry estimates that more than 11 million people will have access to telematics within the next four years. And since women make up a significant part of this market, automakers will need to keep in tune with what women want in their vehicles to help them with their already hectic lives.”
More women are now in the driver’s seat when it comes to developing cars; Nissan North America, Chrysler Corp. and other automakers are hiring women to fill top design positions.
Liz Wetzel, winner of the Automotive Hall of Fame’s 1998 “Young Leadership and Excellence Award,” designed the 2002 Buick Rendezvous specifically with young working mothers in mind. The Rendezvous, an SUV, offers plenty of storage room, from the purse-keeping area to the cell phone hideaway/charger to the console that’s large enough for a laptop computer.
“The reason we’re confident that this vehicle is right for young professional women is that it was designed by the first chief designer in General Motors history who’s a young mom herself,” says Jack Bowen, Buick Rendezvous brand manager.
Car manufacturers and dealers also are using promotional tactics that appeal to a woman’s sense of style, solve a frustrating problem or address the issues she cares about.
CarDay.com, an online used-car site serving the East Coast, runs commercial testimonials of female customers during airings of “Oprah,” “Judge Judy” and “Rosie.” Online partnerships between Ford Motor Co. and iVillage.com, General Motors and Women.com, and Chrysler and Niaonline, a site for African-American women, offer practical advice on maintenance and safety.
The Suzuki XL-7 “It Fits” television ad campaign depicts female drivers parachuting from a too-high vehicle or trying, with no luck, to reach a parking lot ticket dispenser from their hulking SUV.
“The XL-7 taps into the growing backlash against the genre of oversized SUVs that are hard to maneuver, minimally functional and out of proportion for most women,” says Celeste Speier, American Suzuki’s public relations manager.
Some automakers are reaching women through cause-oriented events. BMW North America, for example, participates in The Ultimate Drive for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. For each mile a BMW is test-driven at one of the hometown events, the company donates $1 to the non-profit organization.
Buick Regal sponsors the Women’s National Basketball Association, the women’s Olympic basketball team, and the Working Mother of the Year Award in conjunction with Working Mother magazine.
“It’s great for us to be able to develop specific advertising and marketing programs that are directed at the female audience, especially the female heads of households,” says Bowen of Buick’s promotional efforts. “They have a huge buying influence, if not outright purchase responsibility, for vehicles these days. And as a result we need to talk directly to them. There’s an old cliche of an auto dealer who says, `Come back with your husband when you’re ready to make a decision.’ Well that’s not the way the world works anymore.”
A growing number of women are choosing to buy, sell and research their cars online because it allows them to bypass aggressive salesmen while pinpointing the vehicles they want to test-drive.
Brownley, for instance, used the Internet to compare prices and features before she ever set foot in a showroom.
The Web also lets women tell carmakers what they want. When Ford asked for input on creating a Dream Car via the Women’s Auto Center at iVillage.com, thousands of women responded. They suggested cupholders large enough for super-size cups. And mirrors to help them keep an eye on their kids in the back seat. And pedals that don’t rip high heels.
“It was just wonderful to see the ideas come rolling in,” says Nancy Evans, editor in chief and co-founder of iVillage.com. “They were smart. They were sensible. And Ford has now acted on many of them. It’s really quite revolutionary and I don’t think that kind of participation could have happened in any other medium.”
THE AUTO SHOW
The Chicago Auto Show runs Friday through Feb. 18, but Tuesday is Women’s Day, when manufacturers will feature women-oriented programs.
Where: McCormick Place South, Lake Shore Drive at 23rd Street.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Admission: Women get a $3 discount on Women’s Day. (Regular admission is $8 for adults; $5 for pre-teens or free when they accompany a paying parent; senior citizens $5.)
Tickets: Available through Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212. Discount tickets also available from area new-car dealers and participating banks.
