Auto builders have designs on women
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-10 00:33

Across the globe, car manufacturers are looking for new ways to cater to new consumer demands, which stem from the growing buying power of women to soaring urban congestion and the need to bring safety into the streets

Gelsenkirchen: Gone are the days of male dominance in the automobile world with several manufacturers adapting design and technical features of their cars to catch the eye of women drivers, who are becoming an increasingly important market segment.

Swedish manufacturer Volvo set the trend with a Your Concept Car (YCC) -- a design study developed by women for women.

"Against our expectations no pink station wagon with numerous children's seats came out of it but a very sporty and practical two-seater,'' says Volvo boss Hans-Olov Olsson.

The technology and equipment cater to typically female habits but at the same time involuntarily respond to a few other long-standing needs. The central dashboard console would not only be a useful place to put a make-up kit or a handbag but could serve equally as well as a place to put work tools or a laptop.

The foldable rear seats not only create space for shopping bags but also for building equipment. And men, too, don't particularly enjoy filling up the wiper fluid container, so easily accessible filler caps serve both sexes.

What Volvo has presented with its YCC and what it will include in several of its car models has already been realized in practice by Alfa Romeo. The Italian manufacturer is selling a special "Shape'' edition of the Alfa 147 that was designed in a competition designed by women for women. The female influence was however restricted to mainly visual details such as the colour and the design of the car's upholstery.

But behind the scenes women have long infiltrated the mainly male domain with their competence and creativity, often making the decisions when it comes to form and colour.

Audi spokesman Udo Ruegheimer in Ingolstadt says the German manufacturer has many women working in the sectors of material science, quality control and technical project management.

The General Motors subsidiary in Germany, Opel, lauds development engineer Rita Forst as the "mother'' of an entire generation of engines.

Alfa Romeo has presented publicly a prominent test driver who is ahead of most of her male colleagues.

The car manufacturers are mainly reacting to market trends, says expert Professor Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Technical High School in Gelsenkirchen.

"Women can no longer be ignored as a target group,'' says Dudenhoeffer. In 1976 only 14 per cent of car owners in Germany were women. Today the figure is nearly 60 per cent with a growing trend toward single households and second or third cars.

Even if women don't buy a car they still have a major influence on what car is bought, according to an Audi market study. The wife often acts as the "job stopper'' with a veto right on what model is chosen, says spokesman Ruegheimer. But once the decision has been made on a particular car, the traditional role of the man is to choose the type of engine, while the woman chooses the upholstery.

According to Dudenhoeffer men and women in general set different priorities. Men look at performance and the technical gadgets while women focus on safety and design. But Dudenhoeffer concedes that there will never be a typical women's car.

Audi spokesman Ruegheimer does not give such a "female car'' much of a marketing chance because women felt discriminated against when having to choose such a car.

Ruegheimer says the needs of all potential customers are looked at during the development of a new model but there were no specific female features. Park sensors are only seen by chauvenists as a female feature, he adds.

"Many a man, if he is honest with himself, has often profited from the sensors on the bumpers. And the make-up mirror has often seen a male face,'' Ruegheimer says.

Volvo does not see it as a contradiction when it comes to their female developers. "Women tend to be more critical. If their expectations are fulfilled then those of the men are superseded,'' a spokesman said.

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