B&E’s Savreen Gadhoke argues why manufacturing cars for the fairer sex does not make for a good business plan in India... [and the lady is serious!]
If women are bad drivers, men are worse! But statistically,
that sweet correlation – however much I personally might want to the contrary – does not apply to car purchases. And probably, this is the reason why many women, especially in India, are not seen driving cars [Of course metros are an exception; though even in these areas, purchase patterns of women are no relative matches to those of men]. As a matter of fact, there aren’t many cars that are manufactured exclusively for women in India. And if you’re a car manufacturer, about to tempestuously experiment with a plan for the fairer sex, perish the thought Jim, women in India more often than not take the back seat!
Although Henry Ford was (in)famously focused on keeping women in the passenger seat, Ford had in reality started marketing cars for women way back in 1912. But that was the US. Graeme Dawson, Australia’s top market historian, shows how way back in 1968, women for the first time outnumbered men amongst new applicants for Victorian drivers’ licenses. But that was Australia. A 2006 Chinese survey showed how “Chinese women car buyers have grown to a record 32% of the total buyers,” with the top ten models being bought by them being “Chery QQ, Honda Fit, Nissan Tiida, Chevrolet Spark, VW Polo, Suzuki Swift, Chevrolet Sail, Peugeot 206, Audi A4, FAW Vizi (the redesigned model of Toyota Yaris).” But then, that’s China! Despite driving by woman being banned in Saudi Arabia, government owned Saudi Aramco’s last year’s research shows how “car ownership among Saudi women climbed to 60 percent between 2003 and 2006!” You got it! That’s Saudi Arabia!
In India, still, experts comment and research agencies like HighBeam concur that at the lower level, women make up 10% of the total sales of even top mass market brands. Though India comprises a 200 million strong middle class, for whom a car is even now more of a luxury, which is bought after great discussions and compromises and generally driven by the man of the house, introducing a car exclusively for a woman belonging to this segment of society is just not a viable proposition.
Vivek Srivastava, Joint MD, Innocean Worldwide states, “Specific models being offered to the female buyers as a practice or an approach to market segmentation is not a wide-spread practice.” However, by mapping the needs of the middle class, manufacturers have launched 2-wheelers like Hero Honda Pleasure, TVS Scooty Pep, Kinetic Flyte, et al, which have been received well by females from this strata of the society and have performed well in tier-2 & tier-3 cities, mainly because of poor conditions of the public transport & low cost of ownership. Harshul Verma, Automobile Analyst, Khandwala Securities asserts, “Females generally prefer compact cars over bulky vehicles.” Would that make Tata’s Nano more a woman’s car than the people’s car? Comparing with the western world, in USA & UK, bulky vehicles like Volvo S40, Mazda 3 & Volkswagen Jetta are the first preferences of female drivers.
Indian automobile manufacturers are just not ready to take the risk of launching cars targeted exclusively at women. The foremost reason for this is that they do not wish to restrict their target audience. And as the well publicised Experian August 2008 research shows, men are better and more regular ‘re-buyers’ and repeat customers than women. Well, though my lady-like composure permits not, I have to accept, women are worse when it comes to the market place!
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
If women are bad drivers, men are worse! But statistically,
that sweet correlation – however much I personally might want to the contrary – does not apply to car purchases. And probably, this is the reason why many women, especially in India, are not seen driving cars [Of course metros are an exception; though even in these areas, purchase patterns of women are no relative matches to those of men]. As a matter of fact, there aren’t many cars that are manufactured exclusively for women in India. And if you’re a car manufacturer, about to tempestuously experiment with a plan for the fairer sex, perish the thought Jim, women in India more often than not take the back seat!Although Henry Ford was (in)famously focused on keeping women in the passenger seat, Ford had in reality started marketing cars for women way back in 1912. But that was the US. Graeme Dawson, Australia’s top market historian, shows how way back in 1968, women for the first time outnumbered men amongst new applicants for Victorian drivers’ licenses. But that was Australia. A 2006 Chinese survey showed how “Chinese women car buyers have grown to a record 32% of the total buyers,” with the top ten models being bought by them being “Chery QQ, Honda Fit, Nissan Tiida, Chevrolet Spark, VW Polo, Suzuki Swift, Chevrolet Sail, Peugeot 206, Audi A4, FAW Vizi (the redesigned model of Toyota Yaris).” But then, that’s China! Despite driving by woman being banned in Saudi Arabia, government owned Saudi Aramco’s last year’s research shows how “car ownership among Saudi women climbed to 60 percent between 2003 and 2006!” You got it! That’s Saudi Arabia!
In India, still, experts comment and research agencies like HighBeam concur that at the lower level, women make up 10% of the total sales of even top mass market brands. Though India comprises a 200 million strong middle class, for whom a car is even now more of a luxury, which is bought after great discussions and compromises and generally driven by the man of the house, introducing a car exclusively for a woman belonging to this segment of society is just not a viable proposition.
Vivek Srivastava, Joint MD, Innocean Worldwide states, “Specific models being offered to the female buyers as a practice or an approach to market segmentation is not a wide-spread practice.” However, by mapping the needs of the middle class, manufacturers have launched 2-wheelers like Hero Honda Pleasure, TVS Scooty Pep, Kinetic Flyte, et al, which have been received well by females from this strata of the society and have performed well in tier-2 & tier-3 cities, mainly because of poor conditions of the public transport & low cost of ownership. Harshul Verma, Automobile Analyst, Khandwala Securities asserts, “Females generally prefer compact cars over bulky vehicles.” Would that make Tata’s Nano more a woman’s car than the people’s car? Comparing with the western world, in USA & UK, bulky vehicles like Volvo S40, Mazda 3 & Volkswagen Jetta are the first preferences of female drivers.
Indian automobile manufacturers are just not ready to take the risk of launching cars targeted exclusively at women. The foremost reason for this is that they do not wish to restrict their target audience. And as the well publicised Experian August 2008 research shows, men are better and more regular ‘re-buyers’ and repeat customers than women. Well, though my lady-like composure permits not, I have to accept, women are worse when it comes to the market place!
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
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