A New Type of Truck Buyer : Sporty looks and equipment are pushing purchases by women to record numbers. The trend is gaining steam.
When Mary Lou Branch got rid of her Audi last fall, she says she went in for something “much more exciting” than the luxury import. Something equally as comfortable, she said, something with easier handling and “a better-looking interior” to boot.
She bought a truck.
“It’s a 1988 Jeep Cherokee,” said Branch, an Irvine secretary who traded in her car in October. “I had checked into a station wagon, but the old family vehicles seem to be getting replaced. The Jeep seemed to be nice, so--I don’t know--I guess I just decided on a change.”
And in the process, she also became one of an increasing number of women who are eschewing expensive cars in favor of sleek, new light trucks--pickups, vans and sport utility vehicles--that have overwhelmed the U.S. automobile market.
Young and old, married and single, women across the United States have been purchasing light trucks in record numbers over the past few years, drawn primarily to a look they say is as appealing as the best of luxury cars without diminishing traditional truck qualities.
936,000 Sales to Women
“A man that buys a B-350 full-size pickup buys it to haul,” said Elaine Pearson, a senior truck planner at Chrysler. “A woman would buy it for the same reason, but women also like the image. Trucks are becoming sportier and better equipped: They have power locks, power windows, rear defrosters. A few years ago, trucks were pretty Spartan . . . They’re more user-friendly now.”
Consequently, about 936,000 light trucks were sold to women in 1988, representing 19% of total light truck sales, according to industry estimates. That includes 327,000 compact vans and 214,000 compact sports utility vehicles.
Such presence in the light truck market is a far cry from what it was during the 1970s, when studies indicated that women accounted for only about 2% of light truck buyers.
Moreover, this boost in women purchasers accompanies an overall boom in the light truck industry. Light truck sales set their fourth-straight record during the 1988 model year, rising 4.51% to 4,838,538. Sales for the 1987 calendar year also rose, to 4,962,938 units, up from 4,875,708 in 1986.
Yet, as dramatic as the rise in women light truck buyers appears, it is a leap that industry analysts predict will be dwarfed by figures 10 years from now. “Our projection for female truck ownership for the year 2000 is somewhere over 30%,” said Richard Anderson, the market planning manager for Ford’s light truck division. “They are a very important part of the market.”
Women are having their greatest impact in the compact sport utility market, where they already account for 30% of total sales.
Upscale Market
Indeed, of the 81,349 Suzuki Samurai utility vehicles purchased last year, nearly 40% of them were bought by women, prompting Jean Pellegrino, an analyst at J. D. Power & Associates, to declare the trendy vehicle “the outstanding leader among sales to women.”
Women also buy about 20% of the pricier Dodge Raider, Chevy Blazer and Jeep Wagoneer models sold each year, according to Pellegrino.
Analysts are quick to note that these expensive specialty trucks are being bought by professional women who can easily afford high-priced automobiles. “It’s that whole yuppie thing that has driven the light truck market upscale,” remarked Pearson. “That’s why the sport utilities sell well.”
Yet, in spite of the hefty sums now going toward the sleek sport utility vehicles--the Jeep Cherokee, the Bronco II, Nissan’s Pathfinder and the like--industry observers credit the relatively cheaper compact vans and mini-vans for spurring the light truck craze among women.
Even today, women account for 22% of compact van sales--which coincidently have leaped 22% in the past year.
Along the way, compact vans have displaced station wagons as the vehicle most popular with American suburban families. Keying this upsurge, observed car and truck dealers, are women homemakers.
“Married women seem to be coming in more and more,” said Harold Peters, the sales manager of La Brea Dodge in Los Angeles. “They definitely like the Caravan.”
Few Buy Full-Size Trucks
“A lot of housewives buy the Aerostar,” added Terry Emerson, a salesman at Los Feliz Ford in Glendale. “They seem to love it. They can use the vans for the kids, to haul groceries, all kinds of things. The Aerostars are popular with some couples, too. The vans are what the station wagon used to be.”
But, despite their importance to the overall market and most individual models, women seem to have had little effect on the full-size pickup market, which has traditionally been men’s turf. There, women account for only 5% of the buyers.
“I would say price” is one of the major reasons the full-size pickup trucks don’t sell well to women, said Pellegrino. “Handling is another. Most of these women are younger, and they don’t have a need for a full-size truck.”
Nevertheless, interest among women in the other models has provided truck makers more than enough incentive to tailor their vehicles to the needs of both sexes.
To meet the needs of women drivers, for example, most of the makers of mini-vans and compact trucks have lengthened the tracks that seats slide along so that the seats can be moved closer to the steering wheel. They have also added power locks and windows, lowered the steps to make it easier to get in the trucks and positioned the steering wheel to better conform to the dimensions of men and women.
In addition, as part of their attempts to better understand women buyers, some truck makers have developed or revamped marketing teams to pinpoint the specific needs of female customers.
‘Women’s Marketing Manual’
Chrysler, for instance, has restructured its 10-year-old women’s marketing group to draw on the expertise of executives throughout the auto concern.
“We do from time to time identify typical things a woman can’t reach because it’s made for someone bigger,” said Chrysler’s Pearson. “Broken fingernails (on truck dashboards) are a pet peeve we hear about a lot, too. We try to correct things like that.”
Anderson said Ford now publishes a “Women’s Marketing Manual” for its employees. “We try to impress on our sales force that women are a very important part of the market,” he explained.
Such attentiveness and modifications to trucks and vans--along with price a range of $10,000 to $15,000--have combined to create vehicles with wider appeal.
“My Bronco is really cute,” said Kate Collins, a real estate appraiser in Burbank who gave up a BMW for a Ford Bronco II. “I also own a horse and a dog, and I like to take my dog with me to the barn where my horse is. With the truck, I have room to take my dog and throw a bale of hay in the back.
“But I still have it more for comfort than anything. It rides better than my BMW.”
Added Emerson of Los Feliz Ford: “Women love these trucks. Everywhere I’ve been it’s like that, especially with those Wranglers and Jeeps and small pickups. Whenever I ask them why they want a truck, they go, ‘Because it’s cheap, it’s sporty and it’s the trend.’ ”
TRUCK SALES TO WOMEN
TRUCK/MODELS: 1988 SALES
Compact vans: 327,100 (Ford Aerostar, Chevrolet Astro) Compact sports utilities: 214,000 (Jeep Cherokee, Suzuki Samurai) Compact pickups: 183,500 (Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota) Full-size pickups: 93,600 (Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado) Full-size vans: 76,800 (Dodge Ram, VW Vanagon) Full-size sports utilities: 20,700 (Chevy S-10 Blazer) Heavy-duty wagons: 20,300 (Ford Suburban) Source: Industry estimates
Los Angeles Times
