Men Go For Looks; Women Opt For Practicality According to TrueCar.com Study
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Study Examines Gender Differences in Vehicle Purchases; Provides Current Discounts on Popular Models
SANTA MONICA, CA--April 7, 2011: TrueCar.com , the authoritative voice in new car pricing and industry trend information, has released a refreshed demographic study based on car-buying behavior in 2010, examining gender differences in auto buying. TrueCar.com's study was based on over eight million retail purchases in 2010.
"The study shows that women car buyers are more cost-conscious and purchased fuel-efficient vehicles while male buyers were completely the opposite, purchasing vehicles that were either big and brawny, like a large truck, or chose a high-priced, high-performance vehicle," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights at TrueCar.com.
Some of the key findings of the TrueCar.com study include:
- The brand with the highest percentage of retail sales to females in 2010 was MINI (47.9 percent), followed by Kia (46.8 percent), and Honda (46.0 percent) compared to 2009 when Saturn and Kia tied at 45.2 percent and MINI came in third at 45.0percent. There were fifteen brands with a female ratio over 40 percent in both 2009 and 2010.
- The highest percentage of male buyers primarily purchased exotic brands. There were five brands in 2010 at 10 percent or less for retail sales to women, including Ferrari (6.4 percent), Lotus (7.2 percent), Lamborghini (7.4 percent), Maybach (8.0 percent), and Rolls Royce (9.3 percent) compared to 2009 when there were six brands; including Bugatti (0 percent), Maybach (3.7 percent), Ferrari (5.1 percent), Lamborghini (5.5 percent), Rolls Royce (8.0 percent), and Aston Martin (9.0 percent).
- The top ten models that had greater than 50 percent retail sales to females and at least 1,000 annual retail sales in 2010 were: Volkswagen New Beetle, Kia Spectra, Nissan Rogue, Volkswagen Eos, Hyundai Entourage, Volvo S40, Jeep Compass, Honda CR-V, Nissan Sentra, and Hyundai Tucson.
- The top ten models that had greater than 50 percent retail sales to males and at least 1,000 annual retail sales in 2010 were: Porsche 911, GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series, BMW M3, Ford Ranger, Toyota Tundra, Dodge Ram and Audi S5.
TrueCar.com also examined the most current market prices and listed discounts for all of the brands and specific models that were tracked with over 1,000 vehicle sales annually. Below are the top ten brands with the highest male and female purchase ratios and their current discount percentages:
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Female Purchases in 2010 |
Male Purchases in 2010 |
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Brand |
% Female |
Current Discount % from MSRP |
Brand |
% Male |
Current Discount % from MSRP |
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MINI |
47.9% |
3.0% |
Ferrari |
93.6% |
N/A |
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Kia |
46.8% |
6.0% |
Maserati |
84.4% |
N/A |
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Honda |
46.0% |
5.0% |
Porsche |
80.3% |
6% |
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Nissan |
45.5% |
10.0% |
GMC |
74.3% |
8% |
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Subaru |
45.0% |
5.0% |
Jaguar |
73.0% |
5% |
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Suzuki |
44.6% |
11.0% |
Dodge |
72.8% |
8% |
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Hyundai |
44.5% |
6.0% |
Land Rover |
72.0% |
4% |
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Mercury |
44.4% |
N/A |
Ford |
68.9% |
8% |
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Mazda |
44.2% |
6.0% |
Chevrolet |
68.8% |
8% |
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Mitsubishi |
43.8% |
10.0% |
HUMMER |
67.9% |
N/A |
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Below are the top ten models that had the highest percentage of male and female buyers (minimum 1,000 retail sales) and their current market discounts from MSRP:
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Female Purchases in 2010 - Makes/Models |
Male Purchases in 2010 - Brands/Models |
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Makes/Models |
% Female |
Current Discount % from MSRP |
Makes/Models |
% Male |
Current Discount % from MSRP |
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Volkswagen New Beetle |
60.6% |
2% |
Porsche 911 |
87.9% |
7% |
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Nissan Rogue |
56.3% |
8% |
GMC Sierra |
87.4% |
8% |
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Volkswagen Eos |
55.3% |
5% |
Chevrolet Corvette |
86.7% |
9% |
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Volvo S40 |
54.5% |
6% |
Chevrolet Silverado |
86.3% |
10% |
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Jeep Compass |
54.3% |
8% |
Ford F-Series |
86.3% |
7% |
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Honda CR-V |
53.8% |
6% |
BMW M3 |
85.6% |
6% |
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Nissan Sentra |
53.5% |
15% |
Ford Ranger |
84.4% |
19% |
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Hyundai Tucson |
53.2% |
5% |
Toyota Tundra |
84.3% |
11% |
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Toyota RAV4 |
52.7% |
6% |
Dodge Ram |
84.2% |
6% |
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Toyota Yaris |
52.7% |
7% |
Audi S5 |
83.0% |
3% |
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For more information, visit the TrueCar Truth Blog where the full tables are available.
About TrueCar, Inc.
TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive solutions provider focused on changing how cars are sold by providing a significantly better customer experience while helping qualified dealer partners to gain incremental market share and reduce costs. TrueCar.com is a transparent, visual publisher of new car transaction data. TrueCar.com price reports help both dealers and consumers to agree on the parameters of a fair deal by providing an accurate, comprehensive and simple understanding of what others actually paid for the identically equipped new car over the last 30 days both locally and nationally. TrueCar, Inc. works with a national network of nearly 5,000 Certified Dealers that provide up-front, no-haggle, competitive pricing to assist some of the nation's largest and most well respected membership and service organizations. These partnerships include American Express, AAA, USAA and more than 60 others. Collectively these audiences represent over 1M in-market customers each month. TrueCar, Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and has offices in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2005 and has been profitable since 2009. With nearly 200 percent year-over-year growth TrueCar has driven over 250,000 sales and is developing a suite of transaction oriented products and services centered on transparency and radical clarity as a result of comprehensively analyzing market data and information. You can follow TrueCar on Twitter and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook.
