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Makers of supercars still boast a male mindset
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SUPERCAR makers are like teenage boys at a high school dance, according to business consultant Belinda Parmar. They don’t have a clue how to speak to women.
They may need to learn, and quickly.
With the number of financially independent women on the rise across much of the world, high-performance carmakers risk losing a potentially big market to more adaptable rivals.
“Any woman could drive those cars,” said Sonja Heiniger, the Swiss owner of an Internet services firm who has owned four Lamborghinis and hits the racetrack in a Porsche.
“If you only address men, then that’s a pity,” the 76-year-old said as she touched the accelerator in her latest Lamborghini, a US$375,000 Gallardo Super Trofeo Stradale special edition car.
It may be more than a pity. It could prove costly.
While fewer than 10 percent of Lamborghinis and Ferraris in the United States are bought by women, the figure for Porsche — whose sports cars tend to be cheaper — has climbed to almost a quarter, according to forecaster IHS Automotive.
In China, one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets, Porsche makes almost 40 percent of its sales to women, helping it become a key profit engine for parent Volkswagen.
Porsche has picked tennis star Maria Sharapova as a brand ambassador and expanded into sport-utility vehicles, a category which has proved popular among women.
But the high-performance car industry has a long way to go.
It remains dominated by gender stereotypes, with scantily-clad models decorating the stands at car shows. And most brands make little attempt to address women — just look at the number of car adverts in male-orientated magazines such as GQ compared with Marie-Claire and Elle that have a more female readership.
When luxury carmakers have tried to market to women, their attempts have sometimes backfired.
An Aston Martin dealership in Britain organized a “Ladies Day,” offering an Estee Lauder make-up lesson after a test drive, a move which some women criticized as patronizing.
Keeping DNA pure
As a result, some carmakers appear wary of trying.
“It’s like with an engineering degree which attracts more men than women, that’s just how it is,” said Lamborghini Chief Executive Stephan Winkelmann. “Males are more into the car business and the super sports car is the pinnacle of that business.”
He added that he would like to see more women buyers, but would not push to attract them in order “to keep the Lamborghini DNA as pure as possible.”
Women tend to choose cars that are smaller, cheaper and more fuel-efficient, according to a study by TrueCar.com, an automotive pricing and information website.
While that may be true generally, there are women who want cars that are powerful, loaded with features and fun to drive just as much as men.
That appears to be especially the case in emerging markets.
Although Ferrari sells only around 8 percent of its cars in the United States to women, the figure is about three times that in China, IHS said. Women customers in China also often opt for the more powerful and more expensive Ferrari 458 model.
“Women in China are proud of what they have achieved and let it show,” said Wolfgang Duerheimer, chief executive of Bentley, a sister brand to Porsche in the Volkswagen stable.
The potential female customer base for high-performance cars is getting bigger. A record 197 women made Forbes’s list of billionaires this year, up from 172 in 2014, though still a small proportion of the 1,826 total, while countries such as Britain are making progress in a drive to ensure more women are represented in company boardrooms.
The car industry itself is changing, albeit slowly, with Mary Barra now the chief executive of General Motors.
According to Parmar, CEO of consultants Lady Geek which is advising carmakers such as Aston Martin and Lexus, high-end brands should consider modifications for women drivers. Aston Martin is planning a new crossover that will have a higher sitting position as well as a slightly smaller steering wheel.
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