Study Examines Gender Differences in Vehicle Purchases

TrueCar.com, a provider of new-car pricing and industry trend information, recently released a demographic study based on gender differences in car-buying behavior during 2010.

"The study shows that women car buyers are more cost-conscious and purchased fuel-efficient vehicles while male buyers were completely the opposite, purchasing vehicles that were either big and brawny, like a large truck, or choosing a high-priced, high-performance vehicle," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights at TrueCar.com.

Some of the key findings of the TrueCar.com study, which was based on over eight million retail purchases in 2010, include:

• The brand with the highest percentage of retail sales to females in 2010 was MINI (47.9 percent), followed by Kia (46.8 percent), and Honda (46.0 percent) compared to 2009 when Saturn and Kia tied at 45.2 percent and MINI came in third at 45.0 percent. Rounding out the top 15 brands in 2010 were Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, Hyundai, Mercury, Mazda, Mitsubushi, Lexus, Volkswagen, Volvo, Saturn and Toyota.

• The highest percentage of male buyers primarily purchased exotic brands. There were five brands in 2010 at 10 percent or less for retail sales to women, including Ferrari (6.4 percent), Lotus (7.2 percent), Lamborghini (7.4 percent), Maybach (8.0 percent), and Rolls Royce (9.3 percent) compared to 2009 when there were six brands; including Bugatti (0 percent), Maybach (3.7 percent), Ferrari (5.1 percent), Lamborghini (5.5 percent), Rolls Royce (8.0 percent), and Aston Martin (9.0 percent). Also in the top 15 brands with the highest percentage of male buyers in 2010 were Tesla, Aston Martin, Maserati, Porsche, Bentley, GMC, Jaguar, Dodge, Land Rover and Ford.

• The top ten models that had greater than 50 percent retail sales to females and at least 1,000 annual retail sales in 2010 were: Volkswagen New Beetle, Nissan Rogue, Volkswagen Eos, Volvo S40, Jeep Compass, Honda CR-V, Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Tucson, Toyota RAV4 and Toyota Yaris.

• The top ten models that had greater than 50 percent retail sales to males and at least 1,000 annual retail sales in 2010 were: Porsche 911, GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series, BMW M3, Ford Ranger, Toyota Tundra, Dodge Ram and Audi S5.

(Source: TrueCar.com, 04/07/11)