The Luxury Cars Women Want

A study by J.D. Power identifies the cars and SUVs that were bought most by women in 2007. The most popular? Volvo

by Jim Henry

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In the ongoing debate regarding the differences between the sexes, here is something to think about: The luxury car with the highest male ownership is the high-performance Audi RS4 (NSU). The car with the highest female ownership is the Volvo S40.

The RS4 has a starting price of $66,910 and can zoom from 0 to 62 mph (that's 100 kilometers per hour) in 4.8 seconds. The S40 has a sticker price of around $24,000. It doesn't really matter how fast it can go from 0 to 60. What does matter is that it aced the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's frontal crash test.

It does not take a psychologist to conclude that men are more likely to buy cars with their heart and women with their head. At least that seems to be indicated by the results of J.D. Power & Associates' Power Information Network's most recent survey of the cars with the highest percentage of female ownership. Not surprisingly, there wasn't a sports car to be found in the top 10. Instead, there were sensible, entry-level cars and small SUVs that emphasized safety, quality, reliability, and value.

Of course, that is not to say there's aren't thousands of women don't enjoy driving fast or wouldn't choose a Maserati over a minivan given the choice—but these women would seem to be the exception. To arrive at its conclusions, PIN surveyed hundreds of dealerships around the U.S. through the end of August, 2007. The nationwide PIN sample includes about 24% of U.S. retail automotive sales, including both loans and leases, luxury and non-luxury brands, but excluding fleet sales. J.D. Power, like BusinessWeek, is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP).

What Do Women Want? Volvo

Not only did the S40 nail the top spot; the Volvo brand dominated the top 10 with three winners, which, along with the S40, included the V50 wagon at No. 7 and the S60 sedan at No. 9. Volvo was also the No. 1 luxury brand for female ownership overall, at 42.5%, vs. a luxury-brand average of 35.8%.

So how does this popularity translate to sales? Year-to-date through August, women bought or leased more than half (53%) of the Volvo S40 sedans retailed in the PIN sample, which is fairly representative of the total market. However, that doesn't necessarily mean good news for the struggling Swedish automaker, which is a division of Ford Motor (F), because sales as a whole for the model are weak. As of August, North American sales of the S40 were 13,513, which was down about 17% year-to-date. Overall, Volvo's North American sales were off 9.4% to 72,476, according to Automotive News.

Men clearly still buy the majority of cars. For example, the racier and more expensive BMW 3 Series is the perennial sales leader in the entry-luxury sedan segment, and is increasing its domination. Through August, 3 Series sales were up about 25%, to 97,039, according to Automotive News. But it didn't even make it on to PIN's top 10 list of women's favorite luxury cars.