Tag Archives: Goodwood

car dealerships, car shopping

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.

car shopping

Dazzling Goodwood, a heatwave and dream cars

steph_goodwoodHow wonderful to take a day out of the office when the sun shines. Such was our day at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed and Moving Motor Show courtesy of Peugeot UK.

If you haven’t been to Goodwood, this video will give you a feel for the whole experience.

Rumour has it that some Top Gear refugees are looking at organising a motor show, like CarFest perhaps? If this ever happens, I can’t see this ever rivalling Goodwood for class, memorable location or facilities.

It is quite simply one of the slickest-run motoring events there is and no surprise that one in four visitors was, allegedly, female.

It is a female friendly venue and I can’t say that about most of the other venues of old…

Clearly I was there to celebrate some dream Peugeots, best illustrated in this excellent whistlestop Vine tour.

This included my first look at the which we hope to review, on behalf of women drivers, sooner rather than later.

This was also my introduction to Peugeot’s wacky and impressive Vision GT car.

perfectpeugeotAnd having been asked to nominate our #PerfectPeugeot we chose the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 in the photo.

This was driven in the Lombard RAC Rally in 1985 & 1986 by Mikko Sundström and his co-driver Voitto Silander (a fourth place in 86 and a prang in 85…).

I’m told it’s very rare, valuable and oozes heritage as well as terrific turbo torque.

If you haven’t been to Goodwood’s Festival of Speed yet look out for next year’s dates and get them in the diary. The weekend days have more racing but I loved the Thursday because the traffic and crowds were less, the facilities were fresh, the staff enthusiastic (surely they’d be weary by Sunday…) and you had time to look at the new car models.

With new car sales seemingly ever on the up, this is one of the best places for #carshopping all makes. Or all the really important ones like Peugeot.

FOXY