Saturday, November 13, 2004
There's one type of car men will avoid -- the chick car.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
PHILADELPHIA -- Four years ago, Mike Glacken bought a car with his teenage daughter, Maura, in mind.
"I thought I'd drive it for a few years and then give it to her, used, when she got her license," he said. "So, I essentially asked myself, what's a great girl car?"
If you're a grease monkey, a gear head or a plain ol' car nut, you probably already know what Glacken chose.
It's been called the quintessential "chick car." It holds the No. 2 position in the NPR radio show "Car Talk"'s list of ultimate chick cars of all time. It's a ride many men say they will not drive. In fact, Maura's 19-year-old brother, Matt, said he wouldn't even sit in it.
It's a dark-green Volkswagen Cabrio convertible with a black ragtop and black leather seats.
"I think it's cute," Maura, 16, cheerfully added. "And, I've got Tinkerbell floor mats that say 'Off to Never Neverland.'"
Cabrios. VW Beetles. Mazda Miatas. PT Cruisers. Mini Coopers. They've all attained the reputation of being chick cars.
It may not be fair. It may not be logical. But while some cars zoom down the highway in androgynous anonymity, others get parked and locked into narrow gender roles. Market analysts, car manufacturers and even consumers don't exactly know how -- or why -- it happens.
For women, these cars represent fun, freedom and funkiness. But when a car gets labeled feminine, men tend to shun it.
They love Beetles
When it comes to chick cars, aficionados say, the Cabrio reigned until 2002, when Volkswagen stopped production and the new VW Beetle assumed the crown.
According to Volkswagen of America, 70 percent of all new Beetles are sold to women, and females purchase 77 percent of all Beetle convertibles.
So, what is the ultimate chick car? Cabrio? VW Beetle? Mazda Miata? PT Cruiser? Mini Cooper?
"Almost out of the box [the Beetle] was a chick car," said Gary Vasilash, editor in chief of Automotive Design & amp; Production magazine. "All the way to the bud vase attached to the front panel."
It's round. It's cute. It's practically a pet. And that, said Vasilash, makes it girly.
"Chick cars are one of two types of cars," he explained. "Cute, and cars that look fast but aren't."
"It's about the personality of the car," said Scott Oldham, editor of Sport Compact Car Magazine. "The overall presentation makes them go one way or the other."
There is no hard science behind Oldham's chick-car theory. In fact, even experts who study marketing and advertising say the finer points of the fem-factor remain a mystery when it comes to cars -- even when automakers want to appeal to the female market.
"There's a very fine line between appealing to women and condescending to them," said Andrea Learned, a marketing expert and coauthor of "Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy."
Nonetheless, she said, design and not mechanics seems to be a crucial factor in autos that appeal to women.
The Mini
Which brings us back to the Mini Cooper.
The modern remake of the classic British road-rally car has all the makings of a fem-mobile. It is small. It is darling and it has soft, friendly edges instead of sharp, aggressive angles.
But both the manufacturer and sports car enthusiasts have been fighting mightily to keep the Mini from swerving into the chick-car category.
It's no mistake that the new Mini played a starring role in the 2003 action flick "The Italian Job," and that Matt Damon charged through Paris in a vintage Mini in "The Bourne Identity."
"Is the Mini Cooper a chick car? No," insisted Andrew Cutler, communications manager for Mini U.S.A. He said that 60 percent of Mini Coopers are purchased by men, but he did not know how many of those men bought the cars for their wives or daughters.
Car enthusiasts are similarly divided when it comes to the PT Cruiser.
"Is it a chick car, or a guy car?" Vasilash mused. "When it comes to the Cruiser, that question is still out there."