Growing interest from women gives them influence with car manufacturers
Not all women at the Chicago Auto Show are bored, holding their guy’s coat while he poses for cheesy pictures behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. Women at the auto show are most likely active shoppers considering their next purchase.
At least that’s what the numbers say. According to American Woman Road & Travel magazine, women purchase more than 50 percent of all new cars and influence 86 percent of car sales.
And the auto show isn’t just a guy thing either. Forty percent of Chicago show attendees are women, reports online magazine Women with Wheels.
Bonnie Gladish has been going to the Chicago show for 27 years and works the Chicago Region Sports Car Club of America booth.
A former amateur car racer, Gladish raced Porches in the 1960s.
“I think I know a little bit about cars,” she says. “I drive a Volkswagen yellow beetle, five speed stick shift. It’s the only kind I’ll have.”
Gladish recommends auto shows as a starting point for women to look at cars, compare prices and avoid heavy sales pitches.
“When a woman walks into a dealer–and I’ve had this happen–they look like ‘Oh, here comes a woman.’ It irritates me to no end,” Gladish says.
Since so many women are buying or influencing the purchase of cars, the vendors at the Chicago Auto Show know better than to offend. Gladish says car models wear suits or evening gowns, not bikinis.
“They haven’t done that type of modeling in years,” she says.
And for years Gladish says she has seen almost as many women as men at the auto show.
“There are a lot of women out there who enjoy cars,” she says.
50% of new cars are purchased by women.
86% of all new car sales are influenced by women.
40% of those who attend the Chicago Auto Show are women.
OK, so what if you are bored?
Think cars are dull? Ideas to help you cope if your spouse is dying to go:
– Arrange a trade-off, says Susan K. Perry, author of “Loving in Flow: How the Happiest Couples Get and Stay that Way.” Auto show for an afternoon of shoe shopping? Done.
– Agree to venting, suggests Perry. You’ll go, but you get to rip on the models and boring cars afterward. Same deal with the shoes.
– Keep your compromises playful. Only go if it’s not “through gritted teeth,” Perry says.
