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Customer LoginsGender preferences for automotive purchase remain stable
Even though the automotive industry has experienced exceptional turbulence in the past few years, some things have not changed all that much. One of these is the propensity of males to purchase certain types of vehicles and females other types. Men, who still comprise more than half the new vehicle buying population, remain the dominant purchasers of pickups (all sizes) and high-end vehicles in the luxury market. Four of the five segments with the highest percentage of male buyers three years ago are also among the top five this year. (The data address actual purchases, and do not reflect who influenced the purchase decision.)
Woman, on the other hand, are more likely to buy a small car or sport utility vehicle than other types of cars or light trucks. Similar to the results for males, four of the five segments with the highest percent of female buyers back in 2007 reappear on the list this year. These include three small car categories and one small utility segment.
These industry trends are driven by the vehicles' functionality, basic economics and cultural norms. Regarding functionality, men are simply more likely to need pickups for their jobs than women (though there are other reasons for men to prefer pickups as well). Economically, young single women don't have unlimited financial resources, so they tend to gravitate to the more economy-minded vehicles, which are smaller. Older women are more likely to be married, in which case most of the time the actual legal purchaser in the household is the male. Similarly, households with exceptional amounts of disposable income with which they can purchase high-end sports cars tend to include a couple where, again, the purchaser will be the male. These economic and cultural patterns don't change all that much, which in turn drives the stability of the buying patterns illustrated in the attached table.
Posted by Tom Libby, PolkInsight Advisor, Polk (07.20.2010)