In the Driver's Seat: More Women Than Men Own Licenses For First Time in Automotive History

Hmm. Women are a greater presence on much of social media. They far outrepresent men in getting university degrees. More women have jobs, pay gaps are being reduced (albeit slowly).

And now, more women have drivers's licenses than men for the first time in automotive history. All of which are global trends.

80 percent of car buying is driven by women. They also tend to do more research on line and to use the internet generally and social media in particular to form their decisions. And despite the growth rate, their accident rates are lower. Any connection between all of  those trends and the appointment of female CEOs by GM and Citroen? Ya think? JL

Sarwant Singh reports in Forbes:

For the first time in the history of the car industry, the number of women with driving licenses (DL) in the U.S. over took that of men, not just in one of the young age groups, but  consistently across all age groups greater than 25.
Women are gaining more and more power, not only in political and business leadership, but also in an important segment traditionally linked to men: the car.
For the first time in the history of the car industry, a Frost & Sullivan report finds that the number of women with driving licenses (DL) in the U.S. over took that of men, not just in one of the young age groups, but (as shown on the chart below) consistently across all age groups greater than 25. The trend accelerates for over 55s and shows a wide difference for women over 70. The trend is applicable consistently across all developed world countries, although the balance has tipped only in the U.S., but Canada is close to having more women with DLs with the ratio of licenses granted to women sitting at 49.95 percent and has already tipped in over 55s. The U.K. is expected to follow suit within three to four years as current data shows that new driving license applications for men in the country are declining and those for women have grown by 2.5 percent in last three years. Even male dominated car markets like Germany, where 40 percent of drivers licenses are granted to women, has shown one of the highest growth rates for women with DLs in the last three.

Not only are more women applying for driving licenses, they are also clocking in more mileage on the odometer as well as making more trips. In a travel survey done in U.K., the distance traveled by male car drivers decreased significantly during the time period of 1981 to 2011, but for female drivers, it has increased during that same timeframe. The increase in number of trips by car for women has also increased, which is the opposite of what’s happening for their male counterparts.
Although it is hard to make predictions on trends related to car ownership, it is clear that 80 percent of car buying decision is now influenced by women.  While buying a new car, women are practical and tend to connect the purchase to the ideas of freedom and independence. They prefer small and maneuverable cars, but further give importance to design, spaciousness, safety, quality of materials, vehicle color and sustainability of the car. They like options like park assist, clear lighting for petrol and easy access, integrated systems for mobile devices, entertainment (especially moms) and everything that can make car-time easier and more intuitive. For this reason, in few years women will look towards cars with advanced features like autonomous – driving, digital assistants and other health wellness and well-being features. This is why I was surprised when I visited a car clinic in England and found out that women are less inclined to electric vehicles as they think of practical scenarios, like the danger of being electrocuted while inserting the electric cable to an electric car and why blame them? It does always rain in England.
So what is accelerating this trend? There are many interesting factors. There are more women in education today than men in developed as well as the BRIC countries (with exception of India). The pay parity between men and women is decreasing and in some countries like in the U.S., which could be completely harmonious by end of this decade. There are more women with jobs and even in a developing world like India, this is accelerating rapidly. Furthermore, the number of women millionaires and their presence in the world’s rich list is accelerating rapidly, just as they are gaining more positions in the board rooms of corporate world.
Women are also the routers and amplifiers of the social web and digital world compared to men. 50 percent of Twitter members are women, 57 percent on Facebook and for Instagram this is a staggering 68 percent. As a matter of fact, when buying cars, women choose digital channels over print media and are likely to spend more time researching the web, checking reviews and celebrity endorsements, in comparison to men who will focus more on researching the vehicle’s technical specifications.
Women  also have a tendency to base their purchasing decision on the status of the car itself or associated values like color and comfort and, when it comes to volume brands, are less likely to associate themselves with a brand, model or car variant (hatchback or saloon, for example). This is the opposite when it comes to luxury brands, where women show high interest in the brand and endorsements of the brand by celebrities. Case in example is the new Land Rover Evoque, which was endorsed by Victoria Beckham, the famous Spice Girls singer, and has been the first Land Rover model that has more women customers (60 percent) to men. Other example of cars women have bought in greater quantities to men include – Nissan Kia (3 door with 65 percent female buyers), Mercedes SLK (reportedly 60 percent female buyers) and Fiat 500, for which women account for 70 percent of sales, given its almost infinite customization possibilities and some models conceived specifically for women (500 by Gucci, 500 Pink). Yet women do not only like small city cars, as there are trends seeing to purchase expansion in segments traditionally dominated by men: SUVs and luxury cars.
Yet, a Frost & Sullivan study found (from data shared by a few a car companies) that between 50 to 70 percent of their women customers were dissatisfied by their cars and three in four females felt misunderstood by car companies. So how are car companies reacting to all this? As a start, the likes of GM and Citroen now have a CEO who is a woman for the first time. Others like Nissan have this year have chosen women as a customer as they key Mega Trend for them to focus within their organization this year. Many are setting up diversity offices aimed to attract more female employees and graduates and are creating “production” female teams, as well as hiring female engineers, particularly in fields like materials and design.
There are other automotive businesses now getting into making tailored products for this gender. A company in the U.K. called www.drivelikeagirl.com was set up in June 2013, in response to the EU gender directive that forbids insurance companies to use sex as a factor in the calculation of insurance premiums.  This directive threatened insurance prices for women to go up significantly, if insurance did not become risk-based. Although this insurance is open to any driver regardless of gender – but if they prove they ‘drive like a girl,’ they will get money back and a lower insurance premium compared. Very provocative messaging (and one needs to listen to their radio jingle), but at the end of the day a sound business idea, as 75 percent of fatalities on roads of the U.K. caused by young drivers involve men.
So guys, next time you get overtaken by a woman in the fast driving lane, don’t feel like you’re being challenged, rather get used to it.