"Chick" Cars: Auto Marketing and Women

In the Disney animated film "Cars," vehicles are given personalities and even gender identities. Some cars are feminine, including the "chick", leading lady Sally Carrera. None were portrayed as just cars. This fantasy gender assignment was instantly accepted, and the film was successful.

Several websites have run reader polls, asking users to select chick and guy cars.

For instance, jalopnik.com asked readers to answer the query "Is the Latest Toyota RAV4 a Chick Car?"

1109 readers (67.7%) checked the yes box, while 529 (32.3%) users disagreed.

Do cars have gender? Does vehicle styling appeal to subconscious instincts, are cars really perceived as female or male?

Let's try to find the facts on gender based car marketing.

Automakers won't confess to designing a car for a single gender, but over time several vehicles have attracted females to the eventual exclusion of a wider market. Cars which sell primarily to chicks, young women, often do not have the market depth to be seriously profitable.

A majority of males will not buy a car that is perceived as cute or "girlie."

That verdict could spell life or death for car models with dwindling sales.

The British must have their distinct dialect, so they call "chick" cars "hairdressers" cars.

Car Marketing Targeted at Females

One aspect of Alfred P.Sloan's marketing genius was that he recognized the proletarian 1920's Fords lacked creature comforts. Sloan knew that soft ride, even softer upholstery, and coordinated color schemes would appeal to upscale females, who even then influenced most car purchase decisions. This was one of the insights that built General Motors.

In the 1950s, Chrysler came up with the first deliberate chick car.

Designers added feminizing touches, like a rain hat, bag and umbrella, to an existing Dodge sedan. It was named "Dodge La Femme." The car was a sales flop.

Over the years there were other attempts at overtly feminine themes, usually based on male executives notions of what the opposite gender would buy.

In the 1970's the U.S. auto industry developed models that executives called "secretary cars." These were lower powered and lower priced versions of pony cars like Camaro and Mustang.

Modern women are a powerful market force, making 37% of all auto purchases and influencing another 50%.

Automakers learned they need to appeal more to women, not only in marketing campaigns, but also in design.

Women are assumed to be poorly informed about car purchases and more suitable for glossy ad campaigns.

Marketing has become a science. Surprisingly, it has turned out that gender labeling of cars like this restricts sales. When "soccer moms" desert the stigmatized minivan for crossovers, and men shy away from vehicles deemed appropriate only for so-called chicks, big money is lost.

Dr. Freud, I Presume

European elite cars of the 1930's established a theme: a long hood and crouched cab near the rear. These cars often had external exhaust tubing. The Freudian analogy to male genitalia is obvious.

In the trucking business the long nosed tractors are called 'hoods. Many drivers prefer these despite their extreme lack of maneuverability in urban situations.

Corvettes and Thunderbirds of the 1950's picked up the masculine-object theme.

Lee S. Iaccoca's genius in developing the 1964 Mustang, which defined an era, was in the recognition that baby boom males would go for the long hood "ponycar" shape in the same way that European playboys of the '30s had gone for the big Duesenburgs.

The frame-rail pickup/SUV boom, now subsiding, was based on muscular looking hard edged bodies which resembled 18-wheel tractors.

These cars drew fewer female buyers. Overly masculine brands, most notably Chrysler, are now in trouble just like the stigmatized female cars.

Women tend to choose the smoother curves on luxury and sports cars. The oval shaped basket of flowers is the Freudian icon for chick cars.

These cars tend to be small, round, sporty cars and convertibles, with non-threatening round lines and only modest power.

Feminine curves, engaging non-threatening personalities, and shapely hip lines define the chick vehicles.

Overt feminization, done properly, does not turn most women off. Volkswagen's New Beetle, shipped with silly plastic dashboard flower vases, has sold half a million units in the US. Seventy three percent of the round retro Volkswagens are sold to women.

Now days appealing to just one gender is not enough, industry executives need to broaden the appeal of these cars and sell them to wider audiences. So cars that had been targeted at women began to be redesigned for both genders.

Volkswagen tried to masculinize the new Bug. Turbos and spoilers were added.

The plan was somewhat effective, but 60% of New Beetles are still female owned.

Top Gender Stereotyped Cars

First, many of the cars stigmatized as ‘chick’ cars are very good cars. But the assumption that vehicles fit these stereotypes is false. The female ownership average is 37%, cars type-cast as chicks should be substantially higher.

Cars type-cast as chick rides include Toyota Solara Convertible, which fits the green-and-yellow basket image perfectly. Why are fifty-five percent of buyers male?

Mazda MX-5 Miata is often selected in web surveys as a feminine vehicle.

The Miata, supposedly only acceptable to women, has been renamed, and masculinized to the quicker, slightly more muscular looking MX-5.

MX-5, like Miata before it, is a great little sports car, with very good handling and a realistic price.

The chick car label was never appropriate, this is a good track-day car with a solid enthusiast following and healthy aftermarket.

MX-5 sales have not met expectations, with under 20K sold in 2006.

Statistics at JD Power show that MX-5 Miata buyers continue to be overwhelmingly male (68%), and middle aged (87% over 36).

Toyota RAV4 fit the chick car profile. Toyota marketed the older RAV4s at women and 75% of RAV4 owners were women. After the makeover, the newer model is bigger overall, is 14 inches longer, is styled more aggressively, and a 269-hp V6 engine is optional. Toyota tried to maintain the rounded appearance that appealed to women, while attracting male customers.

Women now buy only 53% percent of RAV4s, which are selling well, the makeover worked.

Chrysler PT Cruiser, nicely rounded, with 53% female buyers, is in jeopardy due to falling demand.

Hummer H2, selling mostly to men, underwent an ad campaign depicting upscale urban women enjoying the high status supposedly associated with the re-bodied Chevy Tahoe. Seventy percent of buyers remain males.

Lexus SC 430, a nice round open basket shape, has 38% female ownership, not measurably above the industry average.

BMW X3, a less aggressive sport utility, is cast correctly as a chick ride: 46%.

Subaru Forester, rumored to be a favorite of lesbians, has 49% female buyers.

VW Jetta, 49% chicks, 51% dudes.

VW Passat is 46% female owned.

Jeep Liberty got typecast as effeminate, so DaimlerChrysler roughed it up, giving the front end a new grille, bumper, wider fender flares and fog lamps. The goal was partially achieved, Liberty sales are now roughly balanced by gender.

Toyota Prius, a tree hugger vehicle, is eschewed by macho men.

According a survey by Good Housekeeping and JD Power, 82 percent of women believe that environmentally friendly vehicles are “extremely important” or “somewhat important” as compared to 72.3 percent of men. Women buy 44% of Priuses, just slightly above the industry average.

So the conclusion is that while there are gender preferences in cars, labels like "chick" don't contribute much value to the car purchase decision.