What Women really want from a Car
“The primary thing that women look for when they’re shopping for a car is the safety features,” says Courtney Caldwell, editor in chief and publisher of Road & Travel Magazine. “They do a lot of shopping on safety features for a vehicle because they have concerns for their own personal safety as well as that of their family and their child.”
Because conventionally women do the budgeting, the prospect car must be practical and must be within their budget range. “It’s not necessarily what they want if money were no object,” Caldwell says. And tastes vary widely. “There’s no one car that all women like,” she says.”It all boils down to lifestyle, age and income.”
Nowadays, women’s opinions and preferences are well paid attention. According to auto industry experts, 85 percent of vehicle sales are affected by women.
“The one big difference between men and women is that men are a little more power-performance conscious; women are more miles-per-gallon-economic conscious,” says Charlie Vogelheim, vice president of automotive development for J.D. Power and Associates.
Vogelheim added that women are more concerned on who will be riding the vehicle and the comfort it will bring while men are more into the vehicle’s utility and the cargo.
Age is another important factor when women chooses vehicles.
For women below 30 years old, Kelly Blue Book identified the most wanted economy vehicles which include:
• Nissan Versa (base price $12,550).
• Toyota Yaris (base price $11,150).
• Honda Fit (base price $13,850)
When women enter family life, their preferences also change. Minivans and SUVs are the preferred segment.
• Honda CRV (base price $20,600).
• Toyota RAV4 (base price $20,950).
• Mitsubishi Outlander (base price $21,370).
• Chevrolet Equinox (base price $22,865).
• Ford Escape (base price $18,580).
As their kids grow, their choice comes back to being stylish like:
• Lexus RX350 (base price $37,400-$38,800).
• Infiniti FX35 (base price 37,950).
• BMW Z4 (base price $ 36,127 – $42,000)
As seen above, women’s vehicle choices range from Japanese made hatchbacks and sedans to SUVs of Mitsubishi (makes Mitsubishi 3000gt performance parts), Honda and Toyota to luxury vehicles. It goes to show that women are really unpredictable. Change is really an ultimate truth for them.
