Small cars cannot satisfy Chinese girls
For many Chinese young girls, Mini Cooper and Volkswagen Beetle are always their dream cars. If they cannot afford them, which are priced from RMB 269k (€29k) and RMB 201k (€22k), smaller cars such as the Skoda Fabia are also acceptable. However, when they graduate from university, some of them will not be content will a small car.
One of my friends, a young girl lives in Shanghai, graduated from a well-known Chinese financial and economic university and has worked in a global consulting company for one year. Recently, she is vacillating between Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV-4. When she asked me, I was a little shocked, because I really cannot understand why a young girl that lives in a congested megacity would want an SUV. Finally, I recommended the Nissan Qashqai to her, being a small SUV and offering a bit more room than the VW Golf that she declined on account of being too small.
I thought such a compact SUV was a wild dream for a young girl, but I realized I was wrong very quickly, because my little sister bought a black Honda Accord – US version. She will become a teacher at a middle school next month in the city of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province. When her father decided to buy a car for her, she thought the New Polo looks nice, but it is too small. At last, She chose the 4.96-meter-long sedan, which is designed for the older business men in China. As an automotive commentator, I tried to understand everything about Chinese auto industry, but this time, I failed. If she likes bigger cars such as the Mazda 6, Buick Regal, or even the European version of Accord are all more appropriate for a young girl, but she really wants to drive the very big black car in the congested streets and struggle for hours to park it.
How to explain this phenomenon? Maybe the girls want to show their powerful aspect by the car they drive, maybe the rookies don’t know the difficulty of parking. But one thing is clear. Although Guo Konghui, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes China should give priority to the development of pragmatic small EV, the small EV is not enough for most Chinese people’s spiritual need, even for the young girls.
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We put too many meanings into owning a car,such as power, wealth and satisfaction derived from luxury.
Frank, I totally agree
Young women in the USA liked their SUVs as well.
I don’t know dude – back home, the 2-dr Rav-4s are absolutely women’s cars. At least in my mind. My uncle/aunt own several car dealerships, and my aunt came by in a new Rav-4 in the mid 90s when they were first released..maybe it has influenced my opinion of the car just by reference.
Girls like small cars because they’re *cute*. Just knowing a couple who choose to go with SUVs doesn’t imply a trend. I’d be curious on ownership statistics…in my opinion, many vehicles here are ‘labelled’, like Tiberon = “mistress”, black Audi = “corrupt official”, etc..
There are on 2-dr version of RAV4s in China, only 5-dr.
Yes, the 1st-gen RAV-4 was a pure chick car.
Then along came Honda with the CR-V and Toyota realized they also needed to cater to men.
The RAV4 is a genius of a car, they brought it for the 70′s generation to buy when they were young, then they added 5 doors for when they’ve added kids to their marriages, and they’ve made it bigger each time. Its a car that’s grown with family requirements, and you have to give Toyota a nod for that, even if it wasn’t intended.
Generally young female drivers of big cars are of two kinds.
1. The only daughter of a wealthy family.
2. A Mistress.
Well thanks for that interesting insight into your own short sightedness.
I could make a crude joke about small car gearnob sizes, but I’ll refrain.
Instead I’ll just say this: China is still a maturing car market – in the sense that America was one in the 50′s-60′s. During that era, and its equivalents around the world, people (Regardless of sex) tend to go for the biggest car they could get.
Its only once a market reaches full saturation that people start seeing the value of quality over quantity. Once that happens you’ll see a dramatic change in buying habits, probably starting with young women switching to smaller and more manageable cars while young men go for sporty GTI analogues.
Not saying that it will happen over night, but give it a while and that’s what I’d expect.
When the SUV trend took off in the US(1991), it was women who led the charge. They were not pleased with the image conveyed by the minivan, so they flocked to the less economical SUV, simply because of the perceived image of a more active lifestyle. As if motherhood is not active enough! This trend became the impetus that brought light truck sales to the point where they outsold cars in the worlds most mature vehicle market. Even this year, cars are only barely ahead of trucks in sales, and women are still buying compact SUVs at a brisk pace. So far, it’s only been high fuel prices that can reverse this trend in the US market. The same may prove to be true in China.
And as a result, the SUV came to represent the exact same image these women were fleeing when they started to avoid minivans.
Hello all after reading this article I had a few laughs at why guys think girls “should” love small cars and Its kinda weird because I’m not from a wealthy family nor am’I anybody’s mistress…yet I currently drive a Mustang Saleen S281(during warm seasons) and a 09 BMW X5 (which I use during winter and such) I get weird looks when guys see my mustang pull up they expect a guy to get out with the cocky smile but when I pull up they seem shocked and I’ve even had guys ask me if its my boyfriends car and I tell them no. I picked these cars because I love muscle cars and my suv is there for when I have my younger siblings or I’m working on a DIY project…..and I have a great dane( I love big dogs too :3). My dad and I got into a big arguement about my first car he was going to give me a brand new volkswagon beetle but I went for an older jeep sahara which shocked him. But over the years he realized that I’ve grown beyond the small and cute cars and have fallen in love with rugged cars that people often portrait as “men” cars.