Gendered Cars?

I read an interesting New York Time’s article for my Sociology 1010 class entitled Your New Baby: A Boy or Girl? (2004) about automakers and how they use gender stereotypes to their advantage when modeling vehicles.

Author, Phil Patton, uses two models of Mercedes-Benz cars as examples to illustrate his point of how concerned automakers are today with fashioning vehicles to appeal differently to the sexes.

The original Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster 1998 had “pert dimensions” and an “insouciant air about it”, however, its four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission “communicated that it would be no threat to the alpha males of the sports car pack.”

Original Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster 1998

7 years later, Mercedes-Benz came out with a newer model, the Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster 2005, which was described as “unabashedly more macho”.

Remodeled Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster 2005

Patton’s description of the car: “A suggestive bulge, culminating in a huge rendition of the Benz three-pointed star, runs down the center of its hood; the jutting details of the front end evoke the Mercedes SLR McLaren supercar that costs roughly 10 times as much.” In advertising the new model, Mercedes worked words like “aggressive” and “muscular” in to the car's description to attract male customers’ attention.

Why did Mercedes remodel the roadster?

“Mercedes says that 52 percent of the registered owners of the first generation SLK’s are women and 48 percent are men; the company would prefer the figures to be more on the order of 60 percent men and 40 percent women.”

Although it would seem that the sex of a particular company’s customers should not matter, this is a standard concern within the industry. It is understood that lots of women will buy a car that appeals to men, but many men, “certainly those to wish to avoid the girlie-men label”, will not buy cars that are associated with women. One possible explanation for women wanting to drive masculine cars suggested by Dr. Malefyt: “A Hummer is masculine, but can appeal to the housewife tired of being ignored.” Whether this is true or not, it still stirs up intrigue regarding why only woman want to transcend the gender binary when it comes to driving cars. Is this because performing masculinity as a gender role is generally regarded as being cool? Or is it simply because it’s thought of as ‘un-cool’ or gay for men to perform femininity? Perhaps because cars in general are understood as being more of a male fascination, women may willingly accept to drive a vehicle catered to men’s taste. 

How are people attracted to the cars they buy? A valuable question for marketers is whether a masculine or feminine car will attract the same or opposite sex. “Do people want to drive something that extends or enhances their self, or do they buy cars to have a relationship with them?” Is one’s car meant to be a substitute for a lover or an object to seduce others? The answers to these questions, although seemingly trivial and bizarre, are essential within the car manufacturing industry. This article made me realize that within my own household, my cars are definitely gendered. What about yours?