Cars and Gender

This morning, a local radio host was talking about a recent survey that pertained to auto buying trends. According to this survey, women in households are making many of the car-buying decisions, and they do not choose domestic models.The radio host seemed skeptical about this, so he fielded phone calls from listeners, including women who owned foreign vehicles.
Add me to the list of people who question the legitimacy of the report.
Whether you want to believe it or not, demographics are real. There are college classes on the subject.There is a reason why you probably will not flip through "Womens Day" magazine and see a 2-page ad for a Ford F-150, complete with pictures of cowboys and cattle.Likewise, Sports Illustrated won't be the place to run ads for VW Beetles.Demographics often hold at least an ounce of truth and can be very diverse and complex to pinpoint.Women fit into multiple demographics, and I believe that certain sub-demos were over-represented in the survey.
Ten years ago, Pontiac Sunfires were seen as "girls cars". Ditto the Grand Ams. Saturns always had a lot of appeal with women.More recently, the Pontiac G6 never shed its image as a womens car and few men would dare buy one. I've heard it mentioned that the Ford Escape was likely geared toward women. Also, the Jeep Liberty has been identified as a "girls car". Surely, here in suburbia,smaller SUVs are quite popular with women.Let's not forget all the Chrysler minivans women have bought over the years.
In rural or small-town America, women even drive large pickup trucks, which are viewed as macho and masculine. Otherwise, they drive regular, but American, cars.There aren't many women in Cornskin,Iowa or Wheatfarm, Kansas driving down dirt roads in Nissans. The names "Honda" and "Toyota" do not come up at the dinner table when couples are discussing potential car purchases.
Imports tend to be more common in certain geographical areas, like California and some of the Eastern states.Could residents of these areas have been a bit oversampled? Thats a possibility.
Does the US auto industry have a problem attracting female buyers to their dealerships? I don't think so.I think they have a problem with certain socio-economic classes or sub-demographics showing interest in their products.But not women in general. Mothers will continue to buy American vans and SUVs in droves,and countless middle-class women will continue to buy Malibus and Fusions.
Surveys are interesting, but there are usually caveats to them.Often they must be taken with a grain of salt.Give me 2 grains with this one.