What a girl wants

One of the interesting hot topics for car enthusiasts is debating regarding the cars that are used for different genders. According to a study conducted by the J.D. Power & Associates Power Information Network's (PIN), most recent survey of the cars with the highest percentage of female ownership is the Volvo S40 while the luxury car with the highest male ownership is the high-performance Audi RS4. This actually does not conclude that men are more likely to buy cars using their emotions or their heart and women are more practical and use their head. RS4 has a starting price of over $66,000 and can zoom from 0 to 62 mph in 4.8 seconds. The S40 has a sticker price of around $25,000. It seems that the S40 is not preferred by women because of its performance that goes from 0 to 60, for what matters with them is that it aced the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's frontal crash test.

To be more particular, there was actually no sports car found in the top 10 but instead, there were sensible, entry-level cars and small SUV's that emphasized safety, quality, reliability, and value. Yes, this is not an easy thing to say, for in fact, most women do not enjoy driving fast and would not even choose a Ferrari over a minivan given the choice, but these women would seem to be the exception. This was concluded since PIN surveyed hundreds of dealerships around the U.S. through the end of August, 2007. The sample that was conducted throughout the nation includes about 24% of U.S. retail automotive sales, which includes some loans and leases of luxury and non-luxury brands but with excluding fleet sales.

So what do you think women want? Volvo, not because the S40 nail the top spot but for the reason that the Volvo brand dominated the top 10 with three winners, which, along with the S40, included the V50 wagon at No. 7 and the S60 sedan at No. 9. Likewise, the Volvo was also the No. 1 luxury brand for female ownership overall with 42.5%, compared to a luxury-bran having an average of 35.8%.

How does popularity translated into sales? For years, women bought or leased more than half (53%) of the Volvo S40 sedans retailed in the PIN sample. And this is fairly representative of the total market. But of course this does not mean good news for the struggling Swedish automaker, which is a division of Ford Motor because sales as a whole for the model are weak. In August 2007, the sales of the S40 in North America were 13,513, which was down about 17% year-to-date. In general, Volvo's North American sales were off to 9.4% to 72,476.

Still, the majority of cars are bought by men. For instance, the perennial sales leader in the entry of luxury sedan segment is the racier and the expensive BMW 3 series. This is increasing its domination and through August 2007, the BMW 3 Series sales were up about 25%, to 97,039 but didn't even make it on to PIN's top 10 list of women's favorite luxury cars.

In automobile market, which includes the sales of non-luxury brands, women bought 37.3% of new vehicles in 2007 through August, based on the PIN sample data. Beyond luxury cars to include all price categories, it is noted that the S40 was the fifth-most-popular model for female buyers. According to J.D. Power, the most popular with 58.3% of all female buyers, was the Volkswagen new Beetle. Including non-luxury brands, the No. 1 brand purchased by women through August 2007 is the Suzuki.

Volvo is trying to expand beyond its "safe" image and such idea is essential for women. And since Volvo is synonymous with safety, Toyota's Lexus Div. is as well synonymous with quality and reliability. Lexus had fewer Top 10 female-owned models than Volvo, but in terms of female ownership, the Lexus was the No. 2 luxury brand overall, in at 41.2%. women are actually a little different in liking a car. They want a vehicle that is provided by the dealership, stating that she is respected for the smart choice she made, that she is an expert at knowing what she wants.