Tag Archives: automotive industry

We Need More ‘Great British Women in the Car Industry’

The Autocar Great British Women in the Car Industry event is set to return this year so we’re inviting your recommendations for the most promising Rising Stars for 2017.

The AutoCar Awards event was held at the SMMT offices in 2016

How To Recommend a Rising Female Automotive Star in 2017

We’re looking for nominations in these categories
+ apprentices
+ design
+ executive
+ manufacturing
+ marketing/communications
+ motorsport
+ purchasing
+ retail
+ vehicle development

There is no limit on the number (or the age for that matter) of females that friends, family or employers can nominate but they must be registered by Monday 3 April 2017 via an email of introduction to Autocar’s editorial director, Jim Holder, via jim.holder@haymarket.com.

Shortlisted winners will be chosen based on their present (and likely future) influence on both the automotive industry and within their company. Needless to say, an evident dedication to a career in the automotive industry is expected by these role models – this event has considerable potential to inspire other women to join our industry.

The Top 100 Female Rising Stars will be announced on June 21 at Twickenham Stadium thanks to this Autocar-instigated initiative in association with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) and backed by Direct Line Group, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover.

FOXY is supporting this initiative

This is all music to our ears and we’re especially delighted to see the genuine enthusiasm that Haymarket Media Group’s automotive Brand Director Rachael Prasher has in this area.

It is very pleasing to move the focus towards recognising the rising talent with a view to the many rewarding careers in the automotive industry.” she explained. “We plan to put the spotlight on its brightest female stars working across a wide variety of roles and, through our event at Twickenham Stadium, to offer insight and debate around some of the topics associated with this area of the industry.”

This is yet more welcome evidence that the industry is actively reaching out to, recognising and promoting, talented women of all ages not just young apprentices and graduates.

Please help FOXY put the spotlight on MORE of the hardworking and clever female employees in this industry who deserve further recognition and maybe an encouraging nudge up the promotion ladder. This matters massively because the UK Automotive industry is woefully short of the female talent it needs to benefit from all the advantages of a better gender balance. A happier workforce for starters plus better representation of female customers’ needs, a female insight to complement the male one and demonstrable evidence of a healthier balance sheet.

Thank you for this help.

FOXY

PS: Can I help any automotive businesses improve their female friendly image or show them how to market to women? For ideas of how to do this ahead of others, please see my specialist automotive consultancy services.

FOXY Lady is a Top Ten Automotive blog

FOXY Lady blog is one of the Top 10 UK Automotive Blogs in 2017 as ranked by Vuelio from within its Social Media Index.

I write the majority of blogs myself and you’ll soon see that we’re a different sort of motoring-related blog from the norm.

Which makes this badge all the more rewarding.

What Makes FOXY Lady Blog Special?

For starters the FOXY Lady blog has a distinct female flavour and attitude. By that I mean we aren’t just about the latest cars and car reviews (which many do better than us I think) nor do we include a great deal about motor racing and F1.

Instead, we’re a female brand reflecting the FOXY attitude that motoring services can be a lot better for women than many enjoy as is. So FOXY Lady blog reflects our balance of putting the spotlight on best practice whilst being prepared to have a pop at evident motoring cowboys!

In short, FOXY Lady Blog straddles two different audiences which isn’t recommended in marketing spheres (but are inter-related for now) with four big objectives in mind.

1/ To help women buy better value for money garage and car buying services without compromising their safety.

2/ To help automotive businesses (willing to listen!) to understand what women want as consumers and employees

3/ To promote signs of measurable excellence in unregulated business areas – HM Government please note.

4/ To encourage talented and hard working females to consider careers/strive to move up the ladder in the motor industry. Because they are much needed higher up…

Somehow we need to find a way to parachute a veritable explosion of exceptional women into automotive boardrooms that remain resolutely male.

For the evidence is compelling – a more diverse board is better for the bottom line and a more diverse business can more effectively and fairly represent the best interests of a diverse customer base.

How To Become A Top Ten Vuelio Blog

The first myth I’m delighted to dispel is the assumption of some that we’ve probably nominated ourselves in this competitive field! Our presence will no doubt intrigue those that run bigger businesses, post more blogs and employ a dedicated social media resource.

So it’s for this reason that this award matter so much more for FOXY because, as important as we think our messages are for women in particular, we can’t influence the outcome here.

Yes, you have to be on Vuelio’s Social Media database to be ‘innit to winnit’ as they say but most good bloggers will be, knowing that this is where PR professionals expect to find the most influential bloggers in their sphere.

It’s all the more impressive for FOXY Lady Blog to have ‘squeezed’ into Vuelio’s Top Ten Automotive blog listing knowing we’ve been scored by Vuelio’s proprietary algorithm that ranks ALL the media in their massive database. They choose the ten most influential blogs after their automated results have been carefully reviewed by a team of in-house researchers, taking into account the likes of social sharing, topic-related content, post frequency, social media influence, traffic, design and interactivity. I hope you’re as impressed as me!

Clearly this allows Vuelio to demonstrate the strength of its blogger database alongside their associated PR and research services. It’s also true that these awards/rankings set a high benchmark within the blogging industry and act as a resource for existing and potential PR and communications’ agencies to value and enjoy.

How To Get Your Blog Considered By Vuelio

If you write an influential blog and would like it to be considered by Vuelio please submit details to the database email updates@vuelio.com or tweet them using the @Vuelio handle.

Thank you Vuelio for this important ranking and recognition for FOXY Lady blog.

FOXY

Are women victims in car showrooms?

different_spinMaybe the automotive industry will read and react to the biggest survey so far into women’s perceptions of the car buying experience. But they haven’t got the message yet, hence this blog to help nudge this message further home.

Based on Mumsnet and Reevoo female customer data, this survey (by Good Rebels acting as Different-Spin.com) tells us what previous surveys have told us for ages – that women are critical customers for the automotive industry yet few manufacturers, dealer groups, garages or accident repairers are doing things well enough for us.

According to Good Rebels we are disenfranchised in this area. Yes, perhaps, but it’s an optional state of mind and if we want to do something about this we need to stand up for ourselves and be counted.

Which is what the not for profit FOXY Lady Drivers Club is all about of course, sharing feedback and handing out Red Cards as a last resort. I hate the very thought of women being victims here – or needing men to sort motoring matters out for us (which no woman does of course…).

Good Rebels research findings re women drivers

This research found..

+ 90 per cent of the women questioned would not visit a car dealership without a man in tow.
+ 56 per cent felt patronised by car advertising
+ 34 per cent felt that no car brand understands women

Looking for some good news, it seems that a few brands are deemed more female friendly than others but, in my experience, this doesn’t always carry itself into the dealership experience. Especially used car showrooms.

Hence the Good Rebels’ conclusions.

1/ It is time for the industry to start innovating.

2/ It is time for a consumer experience revolution in automotive.

Bring it on I say.

I’d then add

3/ It’s time to banish unfair haggling re car prices.

4/ It’s time for the industry to come together at the top to heal the bad image PR (like this and the perpetual proliferation of the male supremacy in all motoring and motortrade journalism) that makes women feel totally alienated from this shopping arena.

More women needed in the motor industry

But with an eye-watering statement at the IMI website over the weekend that only 2% of the motor industry workforce is female (even I was taken aback by this – can this possibly be true?) how can the motor industry in general be seen to represent its current and future VIP customers. And does it or the automotive press understand how they are making this worse by actively shoring up this boys car club?

When will the automotive industry start to heal itself here from the masculine Boardroom floors down?

I am writing this blog in my capacity as a consultant in this specialist area.

Steph Savill
stephsavill.co.uk

PS: I remain, as ever, resolutely enthusiastic about the future of the motor industry from a female perspective (it’s not as hard as it seems to remedy this) because benchmarking the genuinely female friendly businesses will surely lift the complacent laggards off the entry level floor. Or they’ll get left too far behind. And, trust me, there are many truly female friendly businesses out there, it’s just that they are not marketing themselves as the female choice.

PPS: If you’ve got this far, automotive businesses can buy this research. Let’s hope they do. And women can join FOXY Lady Drivers Club and help us get them (and more women) a better motoring deal in future.

More women needed in the motor industry

car dealer influencers 1000In its otherwise brilliant trade magazine for the automotive industry, my attention was halted by this all male photograph in the February issue of Car Dealer.

Apparently these are the 14 white men who are the Automotive Influencers otherwise described as ‘the people who shape the car market’ with a view to 2016.

Let’s be clear about this. These are said to be the guys who are the ultimate influencers of last year’s car sales of approximately 2.5 million brand new cars and 7 million used cars?

Of which 80% of these sales are said to be ‘influenced’ by women ie 2 million brand new cars alone…

But who clearly aren’t represented at the top of the industry? So there you have it – visual evidence of the gender divide.

The men who tell women what they can have and should buy. Versus the women who are telling the industry, time and time again, that they aren’t as happy as they could be with the cars on offer (in terms of the shopping experience as in cars, manufacturer communications, dealer service levels and so on).

Now why is it that the women aren’t happy enough? I know because they tell me and I read surveys about this of course. But could it be that the men at the top aren’t listening or understanding that men and women are different at car shopping time and that many women want MORE than is on offer? Don’t their wives tell them this?

And why is it that too many ambitious women and talented young females are choosing other industries for their careers, not ours? It’s because they can’t see ANY place in our future, looking at photographs like this one. Not one out of 14… why should they be expected to battle against these odds when they don’t have to in other industries?

Help make the car industry more female friendly

Come on Car Dealer. Let’s have women on your strategic agenda with a view to the future. You are a powerful influencer within the industry after all. Yes it’s good to see Sophie back in Editorial but you also need a Female SUIT. Let’s have tomorrow’s female role models in next year’s Influencers and a regular feature in between so we’re not forgotten. Not just women as a token sideshow at your next dealer event? That isn’t good enough.

Let’s listen to more of what needs to be an ongoing business debate about WHO the customer is and WHAT they want rather than who of the Top White Men drinks what brand of coffee or listens to what sort of music in their private life.

The Female Business Case

Having said all this, there are many inspiring male leaders in genuinely female friendly automotive Groups who are actively advancing the Female Business Case, with role models in their Board waiting rooms as part of their strategic agenda. For this has to start at the top, not the bottom of an organisation where most of the women work.

It would be SO good to see more of this inevitable and desirable gender change, to influence other businesses with a view to a better and more profitable future. To encourage aspirational women to speak their mind, unshackled by corporate cultures that equate equality to treating men and women the same as customers.

Yes, of course men and women are equal when it comes to employment issues but this is the MOST important bit, we are not the same when it comes to getting things right for us as customers or when it comes to attracting us as employees for that matter.

FOXY

Steph Savill Limited

Happy to share all comments via @FOXYSteph

Calling all University students

A recent survey suggested that University students rarely considered the motor industry for their future career. Which I was disappointed to read, knowing how much this industry needs to recruit the top talent for its future. And to see that it is failing to appeal to women in the more traditional work areas not just manufacturing, design and motorsports.

And as one of the IMI’s network of Automotive Careers Champions I’m happy to do my bit to spread the word about an exciting job opportunity here, in the hope that more UK students will look more favourably on this industry than they might have done otherwise. And who can afford to ignore remarkable job offers like this one in today’s economic situation.

Which is why I’d like to encourage as many University students to enter a high profile industry competition to ‘win’ 5 months challenging work experience in the automotive industry plus £7500 in prize money. I’m talking about the 2011 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award  which includes the chance to work for McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Toyota and Skoda as well as a £7500 cash prize.

How impressive that will look on any CV – and the opportunity to be considered for a full time graduate appointment at the end of this period we’d hope.

“We are encouraging all students to look to the automotive world for their first step into the world of employment. The industry offers numerous and wide ranging opportunities for enthusiastic graduates – it’s innovative, inspiring and challenging. The industry is most definitely not just for the petrol head” explained Martin Bohling of Courland Automotive Practice.

UK University students are invited to respond to the following brief:

“Using your area of expertise, write a 500-word proposal suggesting some improvement (be it an invention, a legislative change, a change to corporate policy or the adoption of a new convention) which you believe would be a worthwhile benefit to the automotive business, on a small or large scale.”

Brief entries must be in by 28 August and are expected to be innovative, incisive and well communicated using diagrams and images to aid clarity. Twelve students will then be invited to an assessment day before the shortlist is produced. This stage allows each candidate to present their ideas to a panel of judges giving them added interview experience and feedback. The winner will be announced in November.

This is the third year of these Awards and it would be good to see a female winner for the first time. I can’t see why not, providing enough female students have heard of this Award in enough time to whet their appetite.

To find out about exciting career opportunities in the motor industry, please visit the Autocity website for background information

This is such a great opportunity for high flying students to make a real difference to our industry’s future, working alongside some of the leading players here.

FOXY