Was it women who led Honda, Toyota's rise?

In any decent society, or any business run with even a smidgeon of business sense, women carry a lot of weight in final product results.

However, while men will nearly unanimously avoid "chick" cars, women will not avoid "masculine" vehicles. Hence, the SUV phenomenon in the states. In that sense, cars are built largely to appeal to men first.

Secondly, emotional attachment to cars, which is the driving force in many vehicle sales, is largely driven by men. Just review the survey result of this site. Women, generally, don’t have the fascination with cars as men do, and view the need for them as practical. (The article is very correct with that one)The car is to carry your family.

In the end, it goes in cycles. Men use the sporty, coupe type, purely status symbol cars to attract women. Once they have them, women are then making the decisions (although few men will admit that) and unpractical sports car is traded for the unbearable, grocery-getting mini-van. I know I’m heavily generalizing and there are many exceptions; but when the numbers are stacked, that’s how it tends to go.

So do women have a heavy influence in today’s cars? Of course. It goes without saying. If you’ve built a "family" car that doesn’t appeal to women on some level, your product will fail.

webguy- That makes sense, but what about porsche and ferrari? I don't see family values there.

PlanoA4-
I’ll refrain from stating the common observation here on the U.S. west coast on who drives a Porsche, as the messenger will be flamed into next week; but any way you look at it, Porsche and Ferrari are niche markets and not the bread and butter most manufacturers seek. You’re right, zero family values. They’re completely unpractical and built for people who don’t just want a car, but for people whose automobile obsessions are satisfied only by cheek rippling performance and an engine rumble that penetrates the soul. AKA (Wealthy)Men.

Those who can afford such a beast fall into the exception category though, and can typically afford to buy their other half the vehicle of their choice to keep them happy. Mainstream consumer rules no longer apply to cars over $80K, and begin to follow rules of car loving freaks (Men), as that price range is no longer practical.

Typical male/female car thing:

My wife wants an RX350. I want the X3. (She says driving the X3 is like riding a boy's bike. I'm like, yeah.)

She knows I love cars more than she does and accepts that any car we get is going to be good. Or put another way, I don't want the RX more than she doesn't want the X3.

In our relationship, she defers on the car issue. I'm kinda thinking this is more universal than not. How's it for you guys/ladies?

planoa4 go screw tailpipe of your audi.

Toyota/Honda's sell well because they have the best reliability, the best quality, and very good resale values. I don't think Toyota/Honda did these things for Women, everyone likes these types of qualities.

Wow, Plano. That article sinks to a lower level than any of your previous posts (except maybe the dust-to-dust, was that yours?). I'm impressed with the depths to which you will search out this crap in order to bash Toyota (and I guess Honda). I dont think Barletta set out to criticize Toyota and Honda for building cars that appeal to women, judging by the title, it's fairly benign. She might have thought she was doing the dmestics a favor by giving ideas to them, or maybe she just thought this was a fun topic. But the stereotypes perpetrated, and supported by conjecture and assumptions is a poor way to argue a point.

Where do i begin.....
"Women do consider the environment such as pollution."
Pure conjecture, no facts to bakc it up.
"Women tend to be more interested in a car’s interior."
That contradicts a lot of her other points on practicality, safety etc.
"Women don’t care about how many seconds it takes to reach 60 mph."
nd yet the author needs to come up with a reason out of thin air for why the Japanese manufacturers keep upping the power.
"Women care about vehicle safety; specifically, what happens when her car’s hit, not if she can avoid it."
I dont think American cars are lacking in safety features. Chrysler was the first to offer airbags in all its models. Another fabrication to prove her point.

Sad article. I just noticed this is a FORUM! Its not an online publishment company! It is a FORUM where members post opinions! (Now I will run)

I am sorry, but both the X3 and the RX350 are female looking cars.
There is nothing manly looking about either one. The only difference in my view is the X3 Resembles something like young girls drive. And the RX soccer moms with a little bit of money, but who are smarter on how to spend their money and are concerned about staying away from the shop.