Luxury car makers focus on women drivers

Jun 5 , 2014

Forget men and their wheels - it's time for the ladies to press the pedal to the metal

Women are buying more than half of the new cars in the United States and influence up to 80 per cent of all car purchases, according to Women-Drivers.com and Forbes. With statistics like these, car manufacturers and their marketers have heard the lure and are finally starting to target women and their specific needs.

The trend guru Faith Popcorn, in her book EVEolution, says, "women don't buy brands, they join them". And in the luxury car industry, this seems to be just the case - it looks like women are changing and pervading the field from the inside out and the outside in.

Italian marque Lamborghini reports that "three out of four workers in their trim and colour assembly area on the Sant'Agata Bolognese production line are now women". This team of 35 women works on industrial sewing machines, cutting and stitching the leather upholstery. And the brand's production managers at the plant agree: "Women have a more critical eye for detail".

Bugatti's crocodile skin handbag is sculpted to mimic the front grille of the luxury car.

But women aren't limited to the production sector - Helen Emsley heads the team that designed the interior of the 2014 Corvette Stingray and was recently appointed executive director of Global GMC Design and User Experience. The designers of the BMW i Series user interface are two women, Sandy McGill and Monika Zych. And it was big news in the car world when General Motors named Mary Barra as its new CEO last December - the first woman to ever lead a major global carmaker.

Not only are the cars becoming more women-centric, but their many accessories and brand extensions are finding new owners as well. It all started with car accessories for Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche and Bugatti - first there were leather first-aid kits and luggage compartment mats, which quickly evolved to luggage and iPad cases that took on a more feminine aesthetic.

These so-called brand extensions are inherent in the luxury goods market. Haute couture has for the past century extended to accessories, jewellery and cosmetics. Chanel and Saint Laurent (then Yves Saint Laurent) set forth as haute couture brands and today are empires spanning everything from fashion to household goods.

In the car industry during the 1970s, collaborations with luxury brands, such as Cartier, Pierre Cardin and Oleg Cassini, were commonplace and consumers looked out for these elegant special editions. Today, it's still rife with such models as the Gucci-designed Fiat and Victoria Beckham's baby Range Rover Evoque.

And so Bugatti joined the ranks of Porsche and Ferrari at Milan Fashion Week in September last year by launching an exclusive apparel and accessories collection. Not to be missed is their crocodile skin handbag, sculpted to mimic the front grille of the Bugatti.

Last year, Bentley started selling handbags that retail for over US$5,500, while Porsche debuted its Maria Sharapova handbag. And Mercedes-Benz is not far behind with The House of Mercedes-Benz, a fashion boutique featuring exclusive items as a limited-edition collection of wooden eyewear inspired by the wood detailing in the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Brands are gearing up more than ever to expand their offerings. Before the Geneva Motor Show in March, Lamborghini and Bentley released statements declaring that they want to "expand their brands and specifically proffer to women".